ARTE Distribution

What is hair really for? From ants to polar bears, from crabs to whales, hair — fur, bristles or baleen — is almost everywhere in the animal kingdom. A masterpiece of natural engineering, scientists reveal the hidden powers of fur and hair. A journey across the animal world to uncover how this essential feature helps animals survive, adapt and thrive.

ALL ABOUT FUR is a natural historical journey exploring the extraordinary diversity of animal hair and its often overlooked functions, across the wild landscapes of the animal kingdom worldwide. This documentary series examines the role of hair through three fundamental challenges of life: facing the climate, feeding, and defending. De l’Arctique à la Namibie, du Costa Rica aux Etats-Unis, du Canada au Mexique, de la France à l’Inde, ce voyage visuel prouve que le poil est une invention géniale du vivant : bouclier thermique, arme de chasse ou camouflage, il a façonné la vie animale sur Terre.

First there was Big Tobacco, now it’s time for Big Food. The first lawsuits are being filed. Children are at the heart of the matter since it has been revealed that the junk food industry targeted them all over the world with dangerously sophisticated marketing methods.

After The Great Greek Myths, The Iliad and The Odyssey, and The Viking Myths, get ready to dive into the fascinating world of ancient Egypt and the secrets of the gods who shaped its mythology.

The Egyptian civilization, both fascinating and millennial, is one of the richest and most mysterious civilizations in the world. It survived for twice as long as the current Western Christian civilization. It was built around a constellation of gods and goddesses. Between ancient papyri, betrayals and secret powers, Egyptian mythology reveals a spiritual world where each deity, protagonist of the greatest legends of our culture, embodied a facet of life and nature. A journey into the heart of the invisible and the sacred, where beliefs and art collide.

An underwater jewel stretches along northeast Australia. The Great Barrier Reef. Nestled within a maze of mangroves, islands and reefs, it houses some of the planet’s richest and most diverse forms of marine life. Each creature plays its part while sharks, saltwater crocodiles, snakes and jellyfish keep watch.  They are the silent guardians of a balance which is as beautiful as it is fragile. From the top of the food chain these predators conduct the orchestra of life.  But their power can’t protect them in a faltering world. An insidious threat rumbles; the climate compass is going off course. Wild lands are crumbling, gradually succumbing to human attacks. Boundaries blur, and the two worlds collide… and sometimes clash. The rules are being rewritten to the rhythm of this new disorder. But researchers know that ecosystems are unstable without their predators. So how can we coexist with them? How can we create a shared life, where everyone still has their place?

The Great Barrier Reef, one of the seven natural wonders of the world, is home to some of the most breathtaking life forms on the planet. Ravaged by the effects of climate change, some believe all hope is lost. Yet others, driven by courage and determination, are working tirelessly to find ingenious and practical solutions. This is the case for marine biologist Richard Fitzpatrick and his teams, who are dedicated to saving the Great Barrier Reef by implementing innovative scientific protocols to restore damaged coral. Stepping out of their labs, these field scientists show what imagination, science, and action can achieve.

What is the price of sugar, this delicious poison? WIth sequences set in the present day, this historical investigation reveals a global system still fueled by the exploitation of land and people that is rooted in its original sin: slavery.

What is the price of sugar? How much does the fleeting pleasure of this delicious but useless poison really cost? It's a global addiction that has been fueled by the exploitation of land and people for over five centuries. Sugar was the basis of a civilization which, from the transatlantic slave trade to modern forms of exploitation, has never ceased to brutalize labor in all its forms, and to perpetuate immense lies in order to guarantee the prosperity of its industry. The whole world has been shaped by sugar. From Brazil to Réunion, from Europe to South Africa and from India to the Dominican Republic, its production has laid the foundations for the modern capitalist system, devastated the environment, and led to massive population movements. As the curse of sugar continues to haunt certain parts of the world, we set off to these exploited lands to discover a history of which we are all heirs.

This documentary series invites the viewer to travel around the world and discover the most beautiful festive events on the planet. It tries to understand the cultural and anthropological aspects that drive people, everywhere on this earth to party. Dive right into the heart of incredible lively and exciting celebrations.

A round-the-world tour of the most extraordinary festivities on the planet, that explores the profoundly human and cultural aspects of these popular gatherings, often involving letting go and social transgression. From Ecuador to Cambodia, Japan to Mexico, anthropologist Anne-Sylvie Malbrancke meets the men and women who are determined to party, have fun and tell us why and how they do it. Whether they are amateurs or regulars, they let us feel their emotions for the time of the event. An immersion in unique cultures, deep-rooted traditions and breathtaking landscapes.

Faced with the challenges of climate change, and after years of poor farming practices, the cultivation of coffee - the world's most widely enjoyed beverage - is reinventing itself, to be more eco-friendly and fairer to the men and women who grow it. 

What are these new sustainable routes for coffee? What are the new solutions the industry is developing for tomorrow? Are they sustainable? And what kind of hope do these new agronomic, botanical and social experiments give us for the future of humanity? Coffee, a universal beverage and the world's leading agricultural resource in terms of value, is in crisis due to the climatic challenges threatening its production. However, a new sector known as “specialty coffee”, is emerging, advocating for eco-friendly and sustainable practices like those used for craft beer or top-of-the-range chocolate. This movement has been expanding rapidly over the past thirty years, offering new opportunities to coffee growers and reviving old techniques. At the heart of this transformation is Tom Darval, a young barista, who explores some of the coffee bean's most emblematic countries. Through his professional and personal quest, Tom meets agronomists and local players, as they are on a quest to create new farming methods and understand their impact on communities. This journey illustrates a hope for change in the face of environmental threats, while celebrating the values of togetherness and sharing this beverage conveys.

Discovering some of the world’s hidden treasures by revealing the faces and life of island folks.

The series explores the varied and often little known lifestyles and peculiarities on the 12 featured islands.
 
Also available as 20x43'.
 
 

 

She is the first female politician to become Italy's prime minister, but more importantly, the first far-right leader since 1945 to head a major European democracy. To shed light on the political phenomenon embodied by Giorgia Meloni, we need to retrace her political career and go back to where it all started: Colle Oppio (Oppian Hill), a section of the neo-fascist MSI party she joined when she was a young activist.

Housed in an ancient ruin on the Oppian Hill near the Colosseum, the section works as a tight-knit group bound by the ideals found in Tolkien’s The Lord of the Rings, a book they hold sacred. This small group of activists known as the Gabbiani, whom she met in the early 1990s, has stood by her since the beginning of her career in politics. They are now her closest confidants, helping her head Italy. This historical investigation tells the story of how this community rose to power, profiling its key members and revealing how political decisions are made, caught between normalization of the far right and loyalty to the group’s founding values. The documentary also explores Meloni's dilemma: cooperating with European institutions or aligning with Donald Trump, who sees her as a strategic ally in building a so-called ‘reactionary international’.
 

Stopping the next pandemic is a new challenge to the most prominent scientists. Their field studies around the world are showing that our health as humans depends on animal and environmental health. Diseases that occur in the remotest places are now our concern. We live in a connected world. We will have to preserve the environment to prevent future pandemics.

A new infectious disease emerges every four months on average worldwide. Ebola, Zika, bird flu, swine flu, Lyme disease, monkey pox... Three quarters of these infections originate from an animal reservoir.
 
Scientists around the world are identifying viruses and bacteria in the field that could become dangerous to humans and they are tracking their movements to prevent or slow the next pandemic.
 
But today, these researchers are sounding the alarm. For them, human behavior is fully responsible for the emergence of new diseases. By subjugating nature, man is altering ecosystems and causes epidemics to emerge in previously inaccessible territories. By provoking the extinction of species and by producing and consuming animal proteins at an unprecedented level, humans are destroying the biodiversity that protects against certain diseases. By deforesting the planet, turning forests into farmland, urbanizing the natural habitat of thousands of species, building roads in the middle of the Amazon rainforest, consuming bushmeat and mining for gold, humans are multiplying their interactions with wildlife. This is favoring the transmission of diseases that were previously considered unlikely. With 10 billion people expected by the end of the century, our impact on the planet is tipping us into an era of pandemics.
 
Nevertheless, solutions do exist, scientists explain. It is time to put biodiversity back at the center of our agenda and consider that human, animal and environmental health are interdependent. Change our way of life, to protect mankind...

Coups, dictatorships, revolutions, civil wars... For decades, Latin America has been a testing ground for a world marked by violent inequalities and growing polarization.

In six emblematic countries - Brazil, Chile, Panama, Nicaragua, Venezuela, and Colombia - men and women share their struggles. They recount the tragedy of a fractured continent, constantly subjected to interventions from its powerful neighbor, the United States. They are former ministers, opposition figures, secret service agents, torture survivors, guerrilla fighters, lawyers, investigative journalists, diplomats, police chiefs... They have shaped history. Through their words, we relive this historical saga in both its political and human dimensions.