Radio On

Christopher Petit

Quinzaine 1980 | Feature film | 1h41

A movie shot in black and white that shows a country in decline during the coldest winter in almost forty years and people wonder that the result is depressing. I’ve given up being surprised. For me, « Radio On » was always about something else : about different forms of speed (which, as we well know, is an artificial stimulant) ; about the moment when boredom becomes an interesting obsession. Like driving down the motorway with the radio on.
Christopher PETIT

Artistic & technical sheet

With
Andrew Byatt
David Beames
Liza Kreuzer
Sandy Ratcliff
Sting
Sue Jones-Davies

Screenplay
Christopher Petit, Heidi Adolph

Image
Martin Schafer

Editing
Anthony Sloman, Stefna Smal, Stuart de Jong

Music
David Bowie, Kraftwerk, Robert Fripp, Eddie Cochran, Wreckless Eric, Stiff Records

Production : BRITISH FILM INSTITUTE, Londres - ROAD MOVIES FILM PRODUKTION - N.F.F.C.

From 1973 to 1978 his work as film editor at Time Out established him as a critic of clarity, originality and perception. His first work for cinema was Radio On. In 1984, Chinese Boxes, a thriller, disappeared almost immediately.’ He couldn’t secure funding for his films so he moved into television and made Miss Marple: A Caribbean Mystery and a series of documentaries. Suburbs in the Sky, was well received but subsequent pieces like Surveillance and Weather attracted less attention. He worked with Iain Sinclair on two films and started writing. His third novel, Back From The Dead, is a thriller.