La Maison de la Radio

If you’ve always been intrigued by a day in a life of a major radio station, look no further. La Maison de la Radio put onto screen the voices of Radio France, the French equivalence of NPR. A unique process in a world where the image is the least of their concern.

Nicolas Philibert - best known for his documentary To be and to have (Être et avoir) - edited together dozens of clips, showing every aspect of how a hundred people manage to always have something on the air to entertain or to inform its audience. 

From newscasters, to game show hosts, to live reporters, the director chose a series of entertaining characters that we revisit throughout  the documentary. Their meticulous search for the right word, the right tone captures the struggle and the difficulty to be a journalist in a world where sounds supplant image, and where the listeners’ comprehension needs to be instant.

While watching the documentary, you can only imagine the stress of the breaking news, of the fight in the newsroom to choose a story over another one. But above all, you realize how journalists, musicians, technicians, hosts, are addicted to this always demanding media that has no pity for an unwanted silence.

"A terrific docu from Gallic nonfiction filmmaker Nicolas Philibert, "La Maison de la radio" adds revealing images to sounds that will be familiar to millions of French public-radio listeners." - Variety

"It's a film for Francophiles of the deepest dye, a grand tour of French culture and preoccupations." - New York Post

Watch it on Fandor

Go back