ARTE Distribution

Moss is at the origin of life on Earth 450 million years ago and helped develop multiple different ecosystems. A world tour to discover this incredible primitive system that fascinates scientists.

We travel to Japan, Iceland, France, Ireland and Denmark to meet experts who study moss for various disciplines: biotechnology, climatology, nuclear contamination, and evolutionary biology. Visually moss covered landscapes are absolutely stunning and mysterious, and offer a great background to tell our story.
 
CLICK HERE TO SEE THE MOOD BOARD!
 

Nature is an inexhaustible source of knowledge. After 3 billion years of evolution, it has created amazing mechanisms, even at a microscopic level, that allow plants and animals around us to protect themselves, to grow, to move or to face the attacks of the elements. 

This "nanoworld" questions our imagination with its beauty and intelligence. Scientists have finally managed to unravel its mysteries, thanks to photonics. Let’s take an unprecedented journey into this other dimension, in which nature-inspired solutions are found to meet the meet the ecological and climatic challenges that threaten us.

NANOWORLD, THE KEY TO OUR SURVIVAL won the Grand Prize at the 2021 Deauville Green Awards.

When is a new global epidemic going to strike? At a time when new viruses are emerging at an unprecedented rate, and as Ebola is claiming lives in West Africa, this in-depth investigation examines this invisible threat.

In the space of 60 years, over 350 new infectious diseases have appeared, including SARS, H1N1, H5N1 and Ebola. The emergence of viruses seems to be speeding up. Experts are unanimously wondering: when will a new world-wide epidemic strike? The Plague, the Spanish flu, smallpox, AIDS - history has undergone infectious episodes that have decimated populations. But what is the state of research today? Are we better prepared? This film traces 3 particularly threatening viruses: the H7N9 flu virus in Asia; the Mers-CoV virus, related to SARS, which is active in the Middle East; and the Ebola virus, which is striking terror in West Africa.

To most of us, plants make up a familiar background decoration, albeit a beautiful one, but we don't really pay them that much attention, nor do we know much that about them. This collection is an invitation to discover more about four common plants and their astonishing properties.

Scientists, farmers, economists and sociologists will help us to view the Nettle, the Arabis, the Yew and the Lotus in a different light, as they reveal the plants' uses and new technological, medical, economic and social properties. The collection features interviews with geneticists, the head gardener at the Chateau of Versailles, an Indian industrialist and an Australian botanist, among other professionals, as they invite us into their laboratories, on their expeditions to the ends of the earth, or quite simply, around their gardens.

At a time when our society is in full reflection on its relationship to biodiversity, we travel the world to discover in what way these plants have become our partners in life.

We delve into the secret life of four ordinary plants, and discover their "extraordinary" side:
- the nettle, a symbol of the fight against merchandising living things
- the lotus, a tool-box for tomorrow's technologies, inspired by nature
- the yew, a medicinal tree, the new "green gold" threatened by over-exploitation
- the arabis, a little-known plant that has become the new worldwide star of genetic research

Heat waves, droughts, floods and fires, it confronts us with the reality of the violent climate emergency. One attractive solution, for instance, the European Union plans to plant 3 billion trees by 2030. It looks good on paper, but what if? 

The world's forests are carbon sinks that absorb a net amount of 7.6 billion tons of CO2 per year, or 1.5 times the amount emitted annually by the United States.

In Europe, the last primary forests are located almost exclusively in the mountains of the East or South-East. Close to their original state, these preserved forests are little studied. Scientists hope to find answers to better protect wooded areas against climate change.

Martin Mikoláš is a wilderness lover who specializes in forest ecology and scientific expeditions. This time he is leading an expedition for the University of Prague to one of the last virgin forests in Europe. Thousands of samples from the last primary forests of Europe that allow us to better understand how trees have resisted the climatic hazards. Archives that could well provide solutions to cope with global warming.  

This stunning series reveals the breathtaking beauty of never-before-filmed nature and wildlife sites around the world and the quests to protect them.

The breathtaking beauty of some natural sites should not obscure their role as unique ecosystems. Within them, animal species and nature live in harmony. Sadly, their wealth makes them a prime target for men’s greed. The fight to protect them is a relentless one, and the people who lead it have become true heroes of our time.

An investigation into the Saint Louis giant and the recent developments it has made in biotechnology and seed control.

Since its beginnings in 1901, the Monsanto empire has been built upon on the manufacture of chemical products that have ended up being banned from the market. Every time, the multinational has lied, hidden or doctored studies that demonstrate the harmfulness of its products. It has had proceedings brought against it and been ordered to pay hefty fines, but that has not stopped its irresistible ascension.

Today, it is the world leader in GMO production.  The transgenic seeds it markets are resistant to the powerful herbicide, Roundup, its landmark product for twenty years.

This collection draws up the main aspects of climatic change. Sea level rise, growing desertification, deforestation, melting ice at both poles and melting of the glaciers as well as extreme climatic events are already affecting some parts of the world.

This collection draws up the main aspects of climatic change. Sea level rise, growing desertification, deforestation, melting ice at both poles and melting of the glaciers as well as extreme climatic events are already affecting some parts of the world. While the satellites observe the unsettle state of our planet, and the scientists analyze the new climatic data trying to simulate tomorrow's climate, some populations are being exposed to this environmental chaos. They are in fact already witnessing a change in their way of life. Yet their efforts to adapt are sometimes not enough any more and the first migrations of climatic refugees are starting.
We chose places in Oceania, Africa, Asia and North America that are representative and particularly exposed to climatic disruption. In each of these areas we met a population which had been badly hit by an ecological disaster. We show how they are directly engaged in the fight against this sequence of deteriorations in their ecosystem. They tell us how climate change affects their lives, giving us an account of the impact of global climate system disorders at a micro-local level.

An investigation into a worldwide ecological disaster that could endanger the whole of humanity.

The future of our food resources depends on one small insect - the western honey bee, or Apis mellifera. Indeed, it is the most important agricultural pollinator on our planet given that one third of our food supply depends directly on pollination from bees. 

This documentary tells the story of a worldwide ecological disaster that has been waiting to happen for several generations. 
It was filmed over an 18-month period in France, Germany, the U.S., Canada and Scotland and retraces the various leads carried out by research scientists in order to try and understand and to stop the declining numbers of domestic and wild bees. 

Scientists are not the only professionals to figure at the centre of this drama. Beekeepers are in the front line, and striking contrasts exist among beekeepers' experiences in different countries, in various economic situations. The documentary seeks to understand how the long-enjoyed harmonious relationship between man and bee has now undergone such a radical change. It seeks to find a solution that goes beyond science. A solution that cannot be found without thoroughly re-examining our agricultural practice and our model of society. Can we rise to the challenge?

Awards : 2011 : Star of the SCAM (France). 2012 : Jade Kunlun Awards

International commercial aviation produces as much CO2 as Africa. The European Union plans to double the numbers of aircrafts by 2020. Can the earth handle a growing number of carbon dioxide-emitting planes in the upper atmospheric strata forever?

The reduction of greenhouse gases is one of the main challenges of the 21st century and the aviation industry knows it will have to develop a "sustainable" aviation.  Decline or regression is not an option. So, commercial aviation is looking for the answer in a field that has always served it well: scientific and technological innovation all over the world. Luckily, some interesting solutions are actively researched by those who are inventing the eco-friendly aviation of the next 50 years. The film aims to meet the players in an incredible transformation that will ultimately change everything about air travel.