ARTE Distribution

A unique documentary at the heart of ongoing investigations into child sexual abuse, with key players and experts in cybercrime. Every day, millions of sexual predators and offenders log on to the Internet, while children are spending an increasing amount of time online.

In 2021, it was estimated that 85 million photos and videos depicting children being raped had been posted worldwide, most of them involving children under the age of 13 (some of them were infants). This phenomenon takes place not that far away from us and it's far from being something abstract too; it's a growing global threat that affects all children and teenagers. It is a global, cross-border phenomenon that questions the transformation of a society in the digital age. Presented as a detective story, this program aims to shed light on the workings that we never see, to look at the violent reality. Thanks to unprecedented access, viewers will be immersed in the day-to-day work of French, German, American, Canadian, Filipino and British agents, who received special training in undercover work. Interrogation techniques, understanding the defendant's psychology, setting up an arrest operation when they're caught in the act, court appearances....

In the depths of our solar system, a planet five times more massive than planet Earth and so far from the Sun that it would take 10,000 years to orbit the star. Does this mysterious Planet 9 really exist? A fascinating research forces us to reconsider the genesis of our solar system.  

Teams of astronomers have been tirelessly tracking this mysterious planet for years. What clues and discoveries allow them to theorize its existence ? Why is it so difficult to detect ? This celestial object is nicknamed Planet 9 because, since Pluto’s demotion to a dwarf planet in 2006 it’s no longer the ninth planet in the system. This film-investigation reveals how this fascinating research carries even more issues: by exploring these largely unknown territories, thousands of objects are revealed, forcing us to reconsider the richness of our solar system. And to deeply modify the vision we have of it and of the story of its formation.

CNES Award, Best science/environment research film, at Lumexplore 2022, Scientific and Environmental Exploration Film Festival
Silver Trophy in the feature film category at the 2023 Réunion Scientific Film Festival

A new light on the unprecedented economic and financial crisis in Lebanon that are jeopardizing the Middle East’s stability. Major financial institutions are ready to help the country get back on its feet, but endemic corruption is wiping out any hope of finding a solution.

The country’s major financial institutions all want the same thing: for Lebanon's political elite, which is made up of former warlords and billionaires, to take action and put an end to the country's endemic corruption by accepting reforms and opening the central bank's accounts to find out how much money has been lost or embezzled over the last few decades.This is a decision that the kleptocrats who rule in Beirut firmly reject, despite the desperation of the Lebanese population whose standard of living has plummeted.

This film sketches a very personal and decidedly political portrait of the Iron Lady who left the greatest mark on the UK, alongside Queen Elizabeth II. Archives and interviews are enriched by songs from this period that really help to understand the social atmosphere of that time.

Margaret Thatcher remained in power for eleven years, six months and 24 days. When her death was announced in 2013, spontaneous demonstrations of joy brought together citizens of all ages across England. The Wizard of Oz song Ding! Dong! The Witch is Dead! immediately rose to the top of the charts, embarrassing the BBC. Margaret Thatcher was the embodiment of the childhood nightmare of a world, the new neo-liberal Western world, which was just beginning to change, determined to rid itself of the cumbersome legacy of post-war Keynesianism.

Two times winner of the Palme d'Or, Ken Loach is one of the greatest contemporary filmmakers. This documentary shows in a punk and rebellious tone how Loach uses cinema as a political tool that allows to advocate for the advent of a more just society, by raising viewers' awareness.

Thanks to an exclusive and exceptional access to all the director's professional and personal archives, this documentary deciphers his work and the Ken Loach method: to make cinema a political weapon thanks to realistic films that move people. As a humanist, Ken Loach never stopped fighting against the implementation of neoliberalism at the end of the 70s with Margaret Thatcher coming to power in Great Britain. This apostle of subversion has twice won the prestigious Palme d'Or at the Cannes Film Festival for his films The Wind That Shakes the Barley (2006) and I, Daniel Blake (2016). Now 86 years old, the tireless Ken Loach enters the production of his new feature film, The Old Oak, scheduled for release in 2023.

Asbestos has been banned for decades in Europe but its effects are still being felt today, and it is still being produced and sold in many countries. Unscrupulous companies are making a profit from it, while people die because they were exposed to the harmful substance. Will we ever be rid of asbestos?

Far from being satisfied with recording the mistakes of the past, this documentary also X-rays our era: the symptoms of a race for profit are more prevalent than ever and scandals are multiplying like the metastases of an unscrupulous capitalism. Asbestos is gaining new markets. In Russia, the largest mine in the world exports 600,000 tons of asbestos every year, while denying the idea of occupational disease for its workers... but not for its managers. In Bangladesh, "little hands" dismantle cargo ships and European supertankers filled with asbestos without any information on the dangers they face. In Latin America, anger is growing against certain European companies, such as the Franco-Belgian-Swiss group Eternit, which continue to export a product that is nevertheless banned on the Old Continent. Gathering the word of experts, scientists, activists or sick people, this investigation with shocking sequences, exposes a staggering truth: despite the deaths, science and evidence, the killer fiber still has a bright future ahead of it.

Where did the Inca people come from, how were they organized, and why did they disappear so suddenly? 10 years of recent archeological research has allowed us to uncover another truth that contradicts history books which are based on the conquistadors‘ point of view.
 

A few decades ago, here is what we thought we knew about this mythical people, considered as a bloodthirsty giants with feet of clay. Born on the shores of Lake Titicaca in the 14th century, the Incas would have conquered, in just a hundred years, a boundless land of over a million km2, comparable to the Roman Empire. Valley after valley, mountain after mountain, the Incas would have tamed the entire Andes.
 
This ruthless Empire, which had no written language and was ruled with an iron fist by the Inca, the Son of the Sun, an inflexible and cruel ruler, would have collapsed like a house of cards in the face of just a few Conquistadors. These are the preconceptions that have long prevailed, and which archaeology is working to correct.
 
As a travelling investigation Incas, The New Story recounts how a giant reveals itself and is first and foremost a field study which, as the story unfolds, will shed light on the course of Inca history by answering 3 major questions: - Where did the Incas come from? Were they really born on the shores of the mythical Titicaca? Is Pachacutec really the founder of the Empire? - How did the Inca giant develop: Was violence the only weapon the Incas had? How could they rule over such a vast empire without having a written language? - How did the Inca Empire collapse? How was their resistance organized? Where is their last stronghold? Through these questions, which will guide the story, the movie will ultimately answer a big question: who was the Inca giant?

A historical cold case: an investigation led by the best experts demonstrates that a significant temperature drop along with successive deadly diseases undermined the foundations of the Roman Empire.

165 AD. A pandemic strikes the Roman Empire when Marc Aurèle was campaigning against the barbarian armies. At the same time, the climate experienced a sudden cooling: the study of old wood suggests a drop in temperatures of about 3 degrees. In the Roman catacombs, scientists discover collective graves. They thought they were seeing signs of smallpox: it would have decimated 15 to 20% of the population. This double environmental crisis led to a military crisis: for the first time, the inner Empire was hit by barbaric incursions.
 
The second crisis begins in 260 AD. A new epidemic hits the Empire. It corresponds to the first major defeats of the Roman army. In Abrittus, 25,000 Roman soldiers are killed: archaeologists exhume the remains of this battle. It is the beginning of the 3rd century crisis: invasions, usurpations, monetary crisis bring the Empire to its knees. No sooner has it started to recover that a new climate crisis in Eurasia is coming: scientists find its origin in the Altai Mountains. It pushes the Huns towards the Empire: this is the beginning of the end for the Western Empire.
 
The final blow took place 150 years later, at the very moment when Justinian launched an ambitious reconquest of the lost territories of the Empire. A series of volcanic eruptions causes a sudden drop in temperatures: scientists estimate it between 3 and 6 degrees. A few years later, an epidemic of bubonic plague hit the Empire: experts of ancient pandemics found it throughout its territory. Archaeologists in Israel are discovering the consequences of it. Abandonment of cities, end of agricultural activities, and interruption of trade circuits: the Empire is drawn into nothingness.