AUSTRIA    ORF

Laute Nächte
(Noisy Nights)

A young woman and a young man, at night, dancing. That is the story. So simple. Noisy Nights tells of Anna and Martin, who meet in a club. But it's not the noisy music why they can't talk to each other. Anna is deaf. Martin can't see that in her face and understands Anna's behaviour as a rejection. Anna has experience of what happens when her counterpart finds out. After all, she is still considered disabled in the 21st century. Rejection, understanding, pity - she knows all that, she doesn't want to experience it again and again. But Martin means something to her and so she reveals herself to him with the means at her disposal ...

CZECH REPUBLIC    CZCR

Skorápka
(Nutshell)

Nutshell is a paraphrase of Hamlet narrated from the unusual perspective of a foetus in the womb, who, though not yet born, becomes part of a dangerous plan. A few months ago, his father John moved out while his wife Trudy continues to live with her brother-in-law Claude in John's dilapidated house in London. The pair of lovers view the property as a means of procuring a fat load of money, so they decide to get rid of John… The foetus learns this from fragments of dialogues between glasses of wine and passionate lovemaking, which Trudy enjoys without restraint. This enigmatic woman has another strange hobby - she likes to listen to the radio. The foetus becomes an apt commentator with tastes and attitudes of the sophisticated Claude. However, he is powerless against the plan he has been part of since before his birth. Or is he?

FRANCE    ARTE RADIO / ARTE FRANCE

Tu seras un homme papa
(You'll Be A Man, Dad)

You'll Be A Man, Dad is a true story. This moving story of a family's 13-day ordeal revolves around the incubator of premature baby Roman. Via the microphone, Gaël Leiblang plunges us into the daily journal of a father struggling to find the path of resilience. Subtly written, this radio autofiction directed by Sabine Zovighian and Samuel Hirsch is told in scattered fragments through the allegory of sport. It's a way for the writer, himself a former sports reporter, to tear us from the disembodied reality of the hospital: sport as a means to face down your fears and fight the inconceivable battle that the loss of a child represents. You won't come out of this story unscathed, but more alive than ever.

FRANCE    ARTE RADIO / ARTE FRANCE

Godcast

What can you do when you're God and your brand's a busted flush? Launch a podcast, obviously. There's no better way to win back your fanbase and get your community back onboard. Trouble is, God doesn't really get what a podcast is. A bit like people never really getting what God is. So that's one thing everybody has in common. Hallelujah.

ROMANIA    ROR

Scorpionul
(Scorpion)

Scorpion, Francesco Toscani's play, is a dystopia mirroring today's world, confronted with the effects of climate changes and the irreversible transformations generated by post-industrial civilisation. The text focuses on the imminent destruction of the Earth, which causes spatio-temporal distortions and significant alterations of human relations. Feelings of melancholy in the face of an inevitable end are leveled by the hope of survival, confidence in the planet's and its people innate capacity to save themselves and save their home. The cosmic menace and a life-threatening situation one of the spouses is confronted with overlap - reflecting fear of death in almost everyone's private universe. Love is humanity's regenerating force, the means to overcome the end of the world dystopia.

SWITZERLAND    SRG SSR

Roll over Beethoven. Eine Sitcom aus dem alten Wien in neun Aufzügen.
("Roll over Beethoven". A Sitcom from Old Vienna in Nine Acts)

Ludwig van Beethoven has moved from Bonn to Vienna. The democratically minded free spirit from the Rhineland promptly gets into conflict with the reality of the imperial and royal monarchy, as well as with his fellow human beings' expectations. As the first freelance artist in history, he struggles to deal with noble patrons, annoying social obligations, and the rush of mostly male groupies. A stubborn Swiss dilettante in search of a teacher in musical composition poses a recurring point of irritation. Thus, the scrupulous composer is finding it very hard to put some decent notes on paper while being overrun with the hustle and bustle of the multinational imperial capital. And it could be so easy: all the poor man wants is some peace and quiet.

UNITED KINGDOM    BBC

Life is a Radio in the Dark

Davey Maskelyne is injured in a suspected terror attack on an Art Gallery where two apparently insignificant paintings were stolen. The police are eager to see if he has any memory of the event as he is the only witness. They enlist the help of a neuro acoustic psychologist, Dr Baines, who uses sounds to recover memories lost through trauma. Davey, who grew up in orphanages, has a bad memory and no recollection at all of his family. "I don't understand love, so I barely understand anything, and my life is forgettable, so I forgot it". The treatment unlocks his past and momentarily reunites Davey with his dead father, the artist of the paintings, only for Davey to lose his entire memory shortly afterwards.