ARTE Distribution

The amazing and unknown story of how American secret services partnered with their erstwhile Russian adversary, Russia’s main military intelligence organization the GRU; or how climate change forced the two rival blocks to collaborate.

The world’s most powerful intelligence service, the CIA, engaged in the controversial area of climate change and extreme weather events in the immediate aftermath of the Cold War. This is the story of their cooperation with their Russian counterparts, the GRU.
A story full of high politics, intelligence and awesome science ensued. Mutual suspicions turned into unexpected friendships and a utopian vision underpinned high efforts to secure a better future for our World.
Their vision transcended diplomatic and ideological lines.

This is the sun, seen from the American Solar Dynamics Observatory’s satellite.
The shooting actually took four whole days. Do you see these arches? 

They rise up to several tens of times the size of the Earth!

Targeted assassinations, bombings, unidentified military attacks are piling up all over the Middle East. Can the "secret war" between Iran and Israel turn into a major regional if not global confrontation?

The two countries are nowadays the two dominant powers in the Middle East. Their conflict is reinforced by the renewed tension between the United States and Iran since President Trump decided to leave the nuclear agreement. Based on unprecedented archival research, access to high profile players in Israel, Iran, Lebanon and the US, the film looks back over the forty years that followed the Islamic revolution in Iran, the Israeli invasion of Lebanon, the Civil war in Syria, to offer relevant keys to understanding the new Middle East.
 
 

SPECIAL MENTION at FIGRA 2021

For two months, in November and December 2008, an Israeli team, in Sdertor, and a Palestianian team in Gaza documented the daily life of the women, children and men of the two cities.

The two cities are just two kilometres apart, which is very close, but they are separated by a frontier that is difficult to cross, both physically and mentally.

Initially broadcast on the gaza-sderot.arte.tv web site as daily 2-minute chronicles, the project has now become the subject of a documentary that portrays lives devastated by the conflict.
The inhabitants of Gaza suffered from the effects of the siege, from fuel and drug shortages, while the inhabitants of Sderot were traumatised by the threats of random strikes from Qassam rockets.

The chronicles showed the bitterness of daily life, but they were also chronicles of hope, of humour, of resistance to the unbearable. At the end of December 2008, once again war tore the region apart. Images of war seemed to dominate. But for those who saw them, no one can forget the pre-war chronicles of Gaza-Sderot.

2009 : Selected for INPUT 2009 in the " TV Media/ Tomorrow, Today " session; Special Mention by the World Organisation Against Torture (OMCT); Special Mention by the International Commitee of the Red Cross at Monte-Carlo TV Festival (Monaco), Best Original Online Program at NextMedia/Banff Festival (Canada); Special Jury Award at EBS International Documentary Festival (Corée).

A new globalized phenomenon : cell phones recording images of over-equipped police facing unarmed furious crowds. The war of images further polarizes police and protesters.

How did it come to this? New revolts, less and less supervised, subjected to a low intensity war. We must avoid killing. “Less lethal” is the new norm: rubber bullets, grenades... But these dangerous weapons can cause harm.
For democracies, the challenges are multiplying. How can the relationship between the population and the police be restored? What are the responses to street disturbances? 

A thriller-like documentary based on an incredible true story, mixing the Cold War, new weapons, and worldwide geopolitical intrigues. More than 1,000 U.S. diplomats and intelligence officers have been reporting suffering from frightening symptoms known as "The Thing". A unique investigation with exclusive interviews.

December 2016, a few months after the historic re-establishment of diplomatic relations between the US and Cuba, an American diplomat, who had just arrived in Havana, passed out on the floor of his home, suffering from frightening symptoms. He claims to have been targeted by a shrill sound pressing down on his skull, "The Thing". Seven years later, more than 1,000 American diplomats and intelligence officers stationed on every continent reported suffering the same fate that is threatening to paralyze American diplomacy. Cuban attack? Collective psychosis? Russian intelligence operations? This documentary unearths forgotten Cold War practices and redefines the rules of international relations at a time when Vladimir Putin has declared an all-out war on the West.

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.
 

At birth, is a girl as likely to become as rich as a boy? Statistics testify to the financial inferiority of women in today's developed societies. Although they are supposed to be autonomous and independent, surveys reveal invisible mechanisms at every stage of their lives, which are reinforced by institutional practices inherited from the past and contribute to their impoverishment.

What is this curse that prevents women from earning as much money as men? From a very early age, little girls are conditioned by the prejudices and preconceptions of the past. They get less pocket money than their brothers, who demand more... An approach that is set to remain different over the years. Girls are better at school, they do better in higher education, but they often end up choosing less lucrative careers. Is their "natural" attraction to nursing professions real or artificial? When they choose "better paid" careers, they come up against the so-called "glass ceiling". Added to this is the "motherhood penalty". Discrimination against women in the workplace is thus relayed into the private life, where unpaid domestic work gradually organizes the impoverishment of women... a long-identified plague that continues to ruin women's lives. In France, Germany and the U.S., institutions sometimes drive the nail in, reinforcing the advantage acquired by men. Awareness is growing, and women are realizing that they must take their financial destiny into their own hands... or else they could lose their independence.

Mafias and Banks: two opposite worlds. They share the same taste for luxury, risk, and easy money yet they despise and fear each other and both have connections to the government.

For a long time, criminals robbed banks, ripping them open and emptying their safes. It wasn't until the end of the Second World War that the mafias realized just how much profit they could make from banking institutions, and later from finance.

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.

Beeps, bells, rhythms and melodies are part of everyday Japanese life. Music is everywhere in the city to direct, warn and alert.

A musical experience which extends in the jingles of train and metro stations. Behind these jingles are passionate composers.

Warning: the standard of foreign language teaching in Great Britain is falling dramatically. Conversely, Luxembourg and Latvia are actively developing language learning programmes.

There are warning signals in Great Britain that foreign language teaching is falling dramatically. In Luxembourg, learning three languages is obligatory for all children as soon as they start school. Children learn their first foreign language at the age of 9.