Part of the Luxembourg Film Festival’s immersive pavilion, “Radio Luxembourg – Ghosts of the Villa” has been extended until 30 April at the historic Villa Louvigny. Writer and director Dominique Santana leads this transmedia project and shares more about its development.
The “Radio Luxembourg – Ghosts of the Villa” immersive experience was such a success, with slots fully booked through its initial run (4 March – 3 April), that the organisers have extended the project by nearly one month, thanks to the support of Film Fund Luxembourg, the Centre national de l’audiovisuel, and the Œuvre Nationale. Though extended through 30 April, the project will be briefly paused and inaccessible from 5-14 April.
The experience is one of a kind, based mainly in the theatre space at the historic Villa Louvigny, Radio Luxembourg’s former headquarters. As the building is currently being refurbished, visits are limited to 15 people, with the experience lasting approximately 45 minutes. After a brief introduction, visitors slip on headsets that bring the space to life: silent for years, the Villa suddenly becomes alive with “ghosts”—fragments of voices, broadcasts, news announcements, concert clips, ad jingles and more, all triggered by the unique movements of the visitor.
Wander around one of the antique radio sets long enough, and you’ll hear a crackly broadcast of “Ons Heemecht”. Sit in one of the audience chairs next to a DJ, and you’ll listen to their recollections of the station. Stand near some of the fan mail, and you’ll take in personal accounts of how much the station meant to listeners around the world. While the experience is individual, a few sudden interruptions transform the experience into something collective—a reminder of the power radio once had for breaking news, shaping perceptions, even making distant events feel closer and more personal.
A station that shaped lives
Dominique Santana, who is leading the transmedia project through the University of Luxembourg’s Luxembourg Centre for Contemporary and Digital History (C2DH), kicked off the project in 2023 after getting the domain name radio.lu from former DJ Bob Christie who had held it for around 30 years. The first part of the project involved crowdsourcing from the public. Later Santana conducted around 60 oral history interviews, right on the stage at the Villa Louvigny, around 35 selections of which are included in the immersive experience. These include not only DJs sharing their personal anecdotes, but also listeners who were fans of the station, both in Luxembourg and abroad.
Santana landed on the project with Samsa managing partner Bernard Michaux after she finished her first transmedia project, “A Colônia Luxemburguesa”, which she says “surpassed [her] expectations”. She liked the transmedia approach and its tangible outcomes, how it impacted people’s lives. With Radio Luxembourg, “I fell in love with the project—it was way bigger than Bernard and I had ever thought,” she says. “It had an impact in France, Luxembourg, a political influence, everything that happened in the east, behind the Iron Curtain. Transmedia is the best format to tell that story… such a rich, multi-faceted history.”
Her focus wasn’t on the corporate history, but the impact that such history had on the lives of people. One of the audio clips in the experience, for instance, is a testimony from an American who had been stationed in Moscow in the 1960s—“that’s how strong the technology was from Luxembourg”—and, as Santana explains, because of his love for the station, he decided to be transferred to Luxembourg, where he fell in love with a local woman, got married, and is now living in the U.S. “These are the stories that I love because it shows how Radio Luxembourg could really shape your life, could even determine where you live,” Santana adds.
More info
Visits are free of charge, but reservations are required via radio.lu—Santana adds that this website will be in development even after the immersive experience closes, so stay tuned!
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