RADIO ON
Returning 45 years after its first Sydney screening

45 years after its first Sydney screening in 1980, Chris Petit’s moody, minimalist, and sonically unforgettable cult road movie returns to the big screen in a new 4K restoration. Set against the stark, desolate backdrop of 1970s Britain, Radio On follows a London DJ who heads west to uncover the truth behind his brother’s mysterious death. What begins as a personal investigation becomes something deeper: a road trip through England’s grey and crumbling heartland, and a meditation on grief, alienation, and the quiet unraveling of identity – all to a soundtrack featuring the likes of David Bowie, Kraftwerk, Devo, and more.

Often described as an homage to the existential road films of Wim Wenders (who was directly involved in the film’s production), Radio On is a brooding, minimalist black and white road movie through the slow collapse under Thatcherism that trades narrative resolution for atmosphere; dialogue is sparse and meaning emerges through long silences, landscapes, and a mixtape of New Wave and post–punk that now reads like a cultural document. While David Bowie’s “Heroes” sets the tone, Kraftwerk’s Radioactivity pulses along the hypnotic motorway. Devo’s angular Satisfaction accompanies a car wash scene, and Wreckless Eric’s Whole Wide World plays from a pub jukebox. Each track feels not like an addition, but like the emotional subtext of the film itself — organic, haunting, and precisely in tune with our hero’s inner world.