The Sound Documentary International Summer Programme

The Sound Documentary International Summer Programme is a new international programme aimed for young international professionals, offered by the Ecole nationale supérieure Louis-Lumière (ENS Louis-Lumière) and designed with the support of the Ministry of Europe and Foreign Affairs and the complicity of Radio France internationale (RFI). The first session of this programme held in English took place in 2021

Since the programme has been launched it welcomed 62 young professionals from all the world (Asia, Middle East, the Gulf, South America, Europe).

The candidates are young foreign audiovisual professionals, with experience as an author (blog, podcast or creative project involving sound). The laureates are selected by a jury of French professionals in connection with the cultural services of the French embassies. During 7 weeks of intensive training, the attendees, all laureates of a scholarship from the French embassies, dive into the radio ecosystem in France, a pioneer in the radio documentary genre. They learn the fundamentals of writing and recording a radio documentary, supervised by a documentary maker / soundscape artist and a sound engineer. They try out different sound-writing processes, they learn about the techniques of interviewing, capturing atmospheres, soundscape, stereophonic sound recording and audio editing. They learn how to present a project to the concerned audiences (radios, etc.).

The programme is structured around 3 components:

Theoretical and practical training in sound writing (from design to editing)
Production of a sound documentary in pairs (each pair will conceive and carry out its project from A to Z during the workshop)
Discovery of the French radio / podcast creation ecosystem (listening sessions, meetings with French authors and professionals in the sector, visits to key structures such as Radio France, etc.).

The programme also includes meetings and professional visits with key players in the sector: RFI, Radio France, Arte Radio, Festival Longueur d’onde, SCAM, French Institute.

The educational component of the Programme is designed and led by authors and documentary makers Thomas Guillaud-Bataille, Charlotte Rouault, Mariannick Bellot, and Amandine Casadamont, accompanied by sound engineer Thibaut Haas.

The coordination of the programme is The coordination of the programme is ensured by Pascaline Peretti, independant radio producer and cultural projects manager