The Sound of Friendship: Warm Wavelengths in a Cold, Cold War

The documentary film ‘The Sound of Friendship’ traces the trajectory of Radio Berlin International (RBI), a GDR based international radio broadcaster, from the perspective of its journalists and listeners, based in present day Germany and India. The film is a story of the radio station’s Hindi Programme aired from 1967-1990. It takes viewers from locales in Berlin, where the station was located, to Madhepura, Bihar in India where a Listeners’ Club called the Lenin Club was active. How were transnational ties of friendship performed among actors from India and the GDR through the sonic medium of short waves during the Cold War? How are those ties remembered today, 30 years after the shutdown of the station?

Official Trailer

Program PDF