ARTE Distribution

An international investigation reveals that, on Vladimir Putin’s orders, a system that was set up by oligarchs and closely linked to the Russian oil and gas industry, corrupted global finance. All this was meant to serve his revenge against the West. Discover four decades of Russian economic and financial history, through the rise and fall of the oligarchs.

Featuring testimonies and archives, the series shows how a handful of men took control of the Russian economy and established themselves as partners of the major Western powers, not only for their own benefit, but also to serve Vladimir Putin's ambitions. By focusing on their backgrounds, their motivations, methods and ambitions, the series exposes this mafia-like economic system, which reproduces itself like a sprawling octopus and adapts to geopolitical upheavals. This international investigation analyzes four decades of Russian economic and financial history, through the birth and rise of the oligarchs. Like a film noir, this series presents a bitter Russian novel, depicting the homeland of the Tsars and Lenin as a mafia-like petro-monarchy, where cynicism, violence, greed, and the thirst for power seem to have no limit.

Climate change is another quieter but just as devastating pandemic hitting workers around the world. An investigation on the impact of global warming on pre-existing inequalities, creating new social boundaries between those who can protect themselves from the climate crises and those who cannot.
 

As expected, the first to be affected by this new climatic burden are already disadvantaged workers: those who work outside or in non-air-conditioned places, relying more on physical strength. They are farmers, construction workers, deliverymen, factory workers... Global warming therefore only accentuates pre-existing inequalities, and creates new social boundaries between those who can protect themselves from the climate and those who cannot.
 

Algorithms and data are the new weapons in the war that is being waged between the world's major powers. This film reveals what lies behind TikTok's extrodinary rise. 

For several months, investigations carried out by journalists and information gathered by various intelligence services have shown that TikTok allows the Chinese government to access hundreds of millions of data from American and European users. This data is fundamental when it comes to conducting influence or cognitive wars and can be a real weapon in the event of an armed conflict. A war of narratives is thus being waged: banning TikTok means preserving the liberal order embodied by the United States in the face of the Chinese Communist Party, which would use artificial intelligence to undermine democracies. This emerging doctrine within public opinion, crystallizing around TikTok, is just the tip of the iceberg. Algorithms and data have become strategic assets for governments. Having control over them is essential in an increasingly polarized world.

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....

Host of the 2022 next football World Cup, Qatar is as tiny as it is immensely rich. Torn between Western modernism and Bedouin conservatism, ruled by the iron fist of a royal family, it sits on the planet gas field and is a major geopolitical Middle East player.
 

This World Cup will be a symbol of the success of the “Qatar start-up” created by the House of Thani, a family saga with an almost romantic dimension. With its billions spent on everything, its princes and princesses with glamorous photos worthy of Vanity Fair covers and its palace revolutions, the Al Thani dynasty – which could be described as the “Kennedys of the Middle East” – will have succeeded in three generations in transforming a corner of inhospitable desert into a global capital. This unauthorised portrait of the rulers at the head of the richest country per capita on the planet will contrast the nation’s extremely rapid success story with its darker side: a diplomacy of corruption, worrying investments across the planet, the exploitation of quasi-slaves from Asia; but above all, the financing of the Muslim Brotherhood and multiple armed Islamist groups, some of which are terrorist, throughout the Arab Spring.

At the very heart of the uprising in Iran, this investigation closely follows current events and goes over the multiple stages of this political revolution, by giving voice to actors of the movement and opponents who are in exile. The outcome is unknown, but people are fighting for a peaceful democracy and the end of the theocratic regime.

The current uprising in Iran has all the makings of a nascent revolution. After Mahsa Amini's death while she was held in custody by the morality police on September 16, 2022, the Iranian population spontaneously took the streets to express their opposition to the Mullahs' regime. In public, some women removed their hijab, a symbol of oppression. In doing so, they called for civil disobedience. They've started a movement followed by young women. And they have the support of men. These women are fighting back, despite the repression. They're using social media to make sure their opposition to the regime is heard. Generation Z is educated, open to the world, and has undergone a demographic transition. They are the driving force behind an unprecedented national uprising. Young people are joined by their parents and grandparents. They are rising up against the oppression they have been facing for decades, and the economic crisis that is crushing them. Their struggle mirrors the historical struggles of the Kurdish and Baluchi minorities. The revolt is spreading throughout the country: protests, strikes, barricades... On the other side, fierce repression intensifies. The demonstrators want to put an end to the theocratic regime. They're hoping for a peaceful democracy that would break the regional power games.

Hamas named its October 7 operation “The deluge of Al-Aqsa” after the Al-Aqsa Mosque which is located in Jerusalem. The armed wing of the Islamic Jihad is called the "Al Quds Brigades" (Jerusalem in Arabic). Why is this city more than ever at the center of the current war?

Jerusalem is a city of over a million inhabitants, where Israelis and Palestinians coexist, each using their own strategies to prevail. The war in Gaza, as well as confrontations with Hezbollah and Iran, revolve around this issue. This documentary, enriched by interviews with historians and geopoliticians recounts and clarifies the intricate battle for Jerusalem, and enables a deeper understanding of what is at stake in the current conflict, which is both political and religious. The key players of this nationalist and religious conflict are interviewed in this documentary: Islamists, Jewish nationalists, imams, rabbis, intellectuals, town planners, the military...

At a time when Lebanon is going through one of its most acute existential crises, we look back at the history of Hezbollah, a controversial party supported by Iran. An insider’s account that includes unpublished testimonies delivered by the Shiite fighters  themselves.

Forty years ago, in June 1982, Israel invaded southern Lebanon, an invasion that was named Operation Peace for Galilee by the Israelis. A small guerrilla group came together in secret to resist this offensive. Formed and supported by the Islamic Republic of Iran, it officially presented itself in 1985 as Hezbollah: The Party of God. Four decades later, this small group has grown to become one of the most important military and political forces in the Middle East. A party of resistance for some, a terrorist group for others, Hezbollah is admired as much as it is feared. But the organization, which is practically a state within a state, is going through a very turbulent period as Lebanon is experiencing a major political and economic crisis.

On 7 October 2023, Hamas launched a major attack on Israeli territory from the Gaza strip. Mapping the World looks over the key moments in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict and  the current situation - with input from geopolitical expert Frédéric Encel.

The Eastern Mediterranean has become an area of strategic, military, and geopolitical tensions. An investigation that deciphers this historical turning point regarding the balance of power in this part of the world.
 

Given the importance and complexity of the issues at stake in the Estern Mediterranean, it seems necessary to provide keys to comprehension to a public constantly solicited by an influx of direct information. The director knows this territory extremely well and has privileged access. 

The Baltic Sea became a major geopolitical hotspot. Natural border between 8 countries of the EU and Russia, it crystallised many strategic issues: gas pipelines, territories and foreign political influences...

It is now clear that the time when Europeans could consider the Baltic as "their" lake is over: Russia intends to reclaim its shores lost with the end of the USSR and is confronting Brussels with an unprecedented challenge. The stakes are indeed high and are not limited to a dispute over sovereignty between rival powers. For Europe, the Baltic Sea is a strategic hydrocarbon supply corridor, and the heated debates over the construction of the NordStream gas pipelines are causing deep discord within the EU member states.  

Young filmmaker and activist Joseph Paris came across the revolt of the Ukrainian feminist movement Femen in spring 2012, and followed them for one year.

Inspired by their actions, and supportive of their cause, Joseph Paris seeks to distinguish what it is their revolt and these events recount, by adding to the documentary the voices of French writer and poet Annie Le Brun and philosopher, who provide their perspective on this “radical pop feminism”, thereby extending the filmmaker’s own reflections.