Transmissions
XMTR Festival Selects: Making Utopia
Mitra Kaboli (US 2025)
Mitra Kaboli (US 2025)
39 min
Making Utopia is an experimental oral history about Mount Lebanon in upstate New York. This story explores a single tract of land that has repeatedly drawn communities seeking to create their own perfect world.
The narrative weaves together the stories of five individuals from different eras and communities connected to this remarkable place. While Mount Lebanon is most famously known as the central ministry for The United Society of Believers in Christ's Second Appearing, more commonly known as The Shakers, the mountain's story extends far beyond this well-documented chapter.
Through these interconnected histories, Making Utopia investigates a compelling question: What mysterious qualities draw idealistic communities to this particular place, generation after generation?
Producer & Reporter: Mitra Kaboli
Production Manager & Editor: Jess Shane
Additional Editorial Support: Jackson Roach, Liza Yeager, and Signal Hill
Singers: Annabel Lee, Fiona Feng, Jacqui Cornetta, Kira Josefsson, Rider Alsop, Carly Richman, Savannah Strenz, Hanna Johansson, Sanna Samuelsson
Archival Audio Courtesy of Soundings Mindful Media archive, by Dean & Dudley Evenson.
Making Utopia is made possible by the New York State Council on the Arts with the support of the Office of the Governor and the New York State Legislature.
XMTR Radio Hour #36: Festival Preview
Social Broadcasts (UK 2025)
Produced by Social Broadcasts (UK 2025)
60 min / Episode 36 of 36
This XMTR (Transmitter) Radio Hour features a selection of audio works that have been submitted to xmtr.fm: Nanou Thassinda tells her story of belonging and acceptance in the UK through a study of regional accents in Life in Progress by Phoebe Macindoe, Chloe Turpin has uncomfortable conversations with her family in Brittany about a shameful event concerning her grandmother Emmeline during WW2 in Shorn Women, and Giacomo Bagni has to come to terms with the replacement son that his father has chosen to spend time with in Brothers.
XMTR Radio Hour Produced by Lucia Scazzocchio
Follow the series
Baring All in The Name of Art
Minnie Harrop (UK 2023)
Minnie Harrop (UK 2023)
13 min
What does it mean to bare all in the name of art? Life drawing is standard practice in the art world. Artists come together to draw a model who poses completely nude, often directed by a tutor. With nudity practically taboo in Western society, it is one of the few instances in which nakedness is normalised. For many people, life drawing is an unfamiliar concept, and life modelling completely unimaginable. This programme is unique in connecting the experiences of artists, models and tutors, and illuminating a community that is perhaps under-explored in documentary media.
Produced by Minnie Harrop
Music: 'Slow Jam 1' by King Gizzard & The Wizard Lizard
Reality Looks Back
Anne Jeppesen (DK, 2025)
Anne Jeppesen (DK, 2025)
21 min
When you watch a particle it acts like a particle. But when you look away, it does a whole other thing.
This story explores modes of experiencing the strange quantum basis of an everyday life. It journeys through split déja-vu, Schrödinger’s hamster and the clouds of possibilities that are hiding just beyond our reach.
This piece was developed as a part of the YASS! Mentorship program facilitated by Radio Papesse and mentored by Cristal Duhaime.
Written and Produced by Anne Jeppeseen
XMTR RADIO HOUR #35: Accents, Shame and Substitutes
Social Broadcasts (UK 2025)
Produced by Social Broadcasts (UK 2025)
60 min / Episode 35 of 35
This XMTR (Transmitter) Radio Hour features a selection of audio works that have been submitted to xmtr.fm: Nanou Thassinda tells her story of belonging and acceptance in the UK through a study of regional accents in Life in Progress by Phoebe Macindoe, Chloe Turpin has uncomfortable conversations with her family in Brittany about a shameful event concerning her grandmother Emmeline during WW2 in Shorn Women, and Giacomo Bagni has to come to terms with the replacement son that his father has chosen to spend time with in Brothers.
XMTR Radio Hour Produced by Lucia Scazzocchio
Follow the series
Searching for the Lost Language of Cumbric
Caitlin Kennedy (UK 2024)
Caitlin Kennedy (UK 2024)
36 min
In a quest to uncover the lost Celtic language of Cumbric, I hunt for clues in Cumbria's history, folklore, and dialects. Helped along the way by folk musicians, storytellers and a linguist with a secret, I grapple with the complexities of language evolution and how we mythologise the past.
Produced by Caitlin Kennedy with support from Gareth Mitchell and Paul Chauncy.
Featuring the voices and contributions of Neil Whalley, Gordon Jones, Phillip Gate, Tom Fisher and Sheila Fell. Music credit: Joe Broughton Folk Ensemble; Old Molly Metcalfe by Jake Thackray; Jus a wee deoch an' doris by Sir Harry Lauder & Gerald Grafton
Shorn Women
Chloe Turpin (UK/FR 2025)
Chloe Turpin (UK/FR 2025)
33 min
At the end of WWII, around 20,000 women across France were accused of ‘horizontal collaboration’. Their alleged crime: sleeping with German soldiers. And their punishment was having their heads shaved and facing a public beating. Chloe’s grand-mother’s Émilienne was one of the shorn women of French liberation. Like many others at the time, her story was always shrouded in shame and mystery.
From uncomfortable conversations with family members in Brittany to a trawl through the French National Archives, Shorn Women looks at this controversial and overlooked historical event. Confronting official and personal narratives, it's a story about justice, taboo and the power of speech.
Produced, Written and Music by Chloe Turpin
Voices: James Davey, Naomi Bloomstein and George Roll
Pasolini in Beirut - Uncovering Roots
Maxim Saakyan (UK 2025)
Maxim Saakyan (UK 2025)
40 min
In 1974, three revolutionary elements came together in Beirut: a city at the centre of political and cultural change, a filmmaker who challenged ideas of queerness and power, and a cultural space called Dar el Fan. By 1975, all three were gone.
This episode of Uncovering Roots follows not just a moment in history, but a personal search for meaning. For Filmmaker Raed Rafei, uncovering Pasolini’s visit to Beirut became a way to explore memory, loss, and the traces of a city that no longer exists. Through letters, archives, and conversations, the episode pieces together a story that links the past to questions we’re still asking today, about queerness, solidarity, and what it means to remember.
Produces by Maxim Saakyan
Sound Design by Maxim Saakyan
Intro Music composed by Olivia Melkonian
Life In Progress
Life in Progress (UK/DE 2025)
Phoebe McIndoe (UK/DE 2025)
6 min
Life in Progress is the story of Nanou Thassinda and her journey for belonging and acceptance in the UK. After Nanou's dad was murdered in The Democratic Republic of the Congo for publicly speaking-out against the government, Nanou lived as an asylum seeker for 11 years in and around London. In that time, Nanou found hope and empowerment, experimenting with english and the specific regional dialects she encountered as she moved from door to door. This piece is about finding voice, hope and the ever-transitory nature of life.
Produced by Phoebe McIndoe
Voice & Story: Nanou Thassinda.
Executive Editor: Ingo Kottkamp
I Just Needed Something A Little Bit... More
Charlotte Petts (UK 2024)
Charlotte Petts (UK 2024)
12 min
An immersive, multi narrative piece about how it feels to walk a really, really long way. Featuring voices from others who have gone before her, Charlotte tries to find some peace and a sense of her own path on the South West Coast Path.
Created as a final piece for In the Dark audio course. With huge thanks to Nina Garthwaite, Laura Mitchison, Lorna Flutter and Verity de Cala for their ears and input.
Produced by Charlotte Petts