ARTE Distribution

This 10-part series takes you on an anthropological and cultural journey to ten destinations around the world, to reflect on our globalized consumption patterns. An invitation to travel in the most beautiful way possible to the last bastions of local customs and cultures.

Let us meet the men and women who make these markets a place of commercial and cultural exchange. While the globalized economy leads to a standardization of tastes and consumption, going to a market allows you to dive immediately into a local culture, to meet its inhabitants, its food, its smells, its colors, its customs. An invitation to travel in the most beautiful way possible, to enjoy the abundant and varied riches of nature and meet people from different cultures around the world, who are the beating hearts of these markets. 

Dive into 5 of the most visited European heritage emblems and their breathtaking, unexpected and diversified wildlife. This ambitious series is an amazing immersion into the heart of incredible ecosystems, with the people who preserve it everyday.

Mont Saint-Michel, the Loire valley châteaux, Alhambra or Bastei Bridge… Every year, these breathtaking sites attract tourists from across the world. But hidden in the meanderings off the beaten track, fascinating and unexpected stories unfold: the stories of the wildlife that inhabits these places.
 
For, although these famous French cultural heritage sites have been built over the centuries, they are located within areas of outstanding natural beauty, with their own iconic species such as the Red deer of Chambord, the Black stork of Pont Bastei or the toads of the Alhambra.
 
Today, the preservation of these exceptional sites can no longer be done without taking into account the wildlife. And after several centuries of ignoring each other, these two worlds are finally coming together to show that natural and historical heritage can become allies! Over the course of four seasons, this prestigious documentary collection revisits the great French heritage sites from the perspective of the wildlife that inhabits them, offering an unusual look at these mythical sites, with fur, feathers or scales.

Follow an international team of scientists on a mission to develop groundbreaking solutions to save the Great Barrier Reef and its 9,000 unique species from extinction.
 

These species interact with the coral to form a complex and delicate ecosystem whose survival depends on each and every one of them. Yet today the coral—and therefore all the organisms that depend on it—is in great danger. In a visually stunning series about one the most beautiful natural habitats on Earth, our international award winning crew has followed a team of scientists for 5 years. Their mission is to develop groundbreaking technological solutions to save the GBR from destruction.

An immersion in the heart of the mountain wildlife. Each episode follows an animal living in a specific landscape’s altitude: the wild cat, the bear and the eagle, from the lowest to the top! 

Discover wildlife filming behind the scenes and find out that more often than not, animals are much more cunning than men. Unfortunately, this lush world is still not very accessible – the animals fear the presence of man in this emblematic massif. To discover them, you have to investigate, find clues, follow tracks and be very patient before you finally get the chance to see them.
Luckily, the journey proves to be just as exciting as the objective: chance upon a mountain-size game of hide-and-seek where man must understand nature and tame it in order to discover its secrets.
 
Also available : 3x43' and 52'

Out-of-competition Selection Green Screen Festival 2022, Official Selection Le Grand Bivouac Festival 2022, Wildlife Vaasa International Nature Film Festival 2022 & The Wildlife Conservation Film Festival 2022

A stunning series that takes you along the most beautiful and vast corridor of life in the Rockies. Discover groundbreaking local conservation initiatives designed to preserve the ”iconic four”: bison, grizzly, caribou and wolf.

Yellowstone National Park was created in 1872. It was the first natural park in the world. As we celebrated the 150th anniversary of this park back in 2022, it's to this part of the world that we must once again look to see the unfolding of a revolutionary initiative. As a new concept of nature conservation, the Yellowstone to Yukon Conservation Initiative preserves the heritage of Yellowstone National Park.
Through the success stories of four emblematic animals (bison, grizzly, woodland caribou, wolf), we follow this immense 2000 mile corridor of life all the way through the four episodes of this series and discover how it is working to preserve the Rocky Mountain  ecosystem, in close collaboration with Canadian Indian and First Nations tribes.

Every culture has its own rituals for dealing with the different stages that punctuate our lives (being born, growing up, seducing, bonding and dying). Each episode of this series will focus on two different cultures and their distinct or similar ways to deal with these issues. 

Being born, growing up, seducing, bonding, dying: this cycle of life is immutable. It is the very foundation of our condition as human beings, beyond culture. It leads us inexorably towards the end – after all, moving forward in life means moving closer to death, and from that point of view, living becomes a frightening adventure! This is why humans have invented accompanying rituals that help structure life in specific stages: the collective rites of passage from one stage to another provide individuals with a calmer perception of their mortal condition.
 

Meet those who, throughout the world, celebrate these life's transitions. Purification, isolation, pain, transformation of the body: every group has its own practices, beliefs and prohibitions that reveal its identity. By sharing these rituals with them, we gain an insight into their culture, their fears, their desires, their vision of life, their way of responding to “the difficult task that is growing up”.

It allows us to question our own anxieties and perspectives and reflect on the usefulness of these ritualized occasions. Today, our Western societies are becoming more and more emancipated from them: people are free to live out their love with whomever they choose, cremation is secular, and graduating is no longer a widely recognized official entry into adulthood. What do rites of passage teach practitioners? How do they help them move on to the next step? What kind of transformation does one undergo?

There is no standard picture that describes the largest and most varied country in Western Europe in terms of wildlife and landscapes. Discover a one-of-a-kind variety of natural wonders populated with  small creatures with stunning never-before-seen images.

The North-West: from Paris along the wild coast, the romantic Normandy and the picturesque Loire
The South-West: the garden of France along the Atlantic Ocean, the wine regions of Burgundy and Bordeaux
The South: where mountains meet the Mediterranean Sea and the blooming Provence
The East: mountain area
Anyone who looks closely will discover something unusual, something never seen before. Especially, some small creatures often show behaviors nobody knows about, like these bioluminescent worms or catfish that hunt pigeons. France is one of those countries you think you know, but when you explore it, it can still surprise you!

A unique documentary on chameleons living on the island of Madagascar, the world’s largest chameleon concentration, revealing incredible never-before-seen images and behaviors. Discover their incredible abilities such as: sleeping techniques, dancing, camouflage, 340° peripheral vision, catapult tongue, seduction, fluorescence...

If you thought you knew everything about this strange reptile, certainly the most astonishing of all, you were wrong. If you take the time to observe chameleons in the wild and try to truly understand them, you will soon realize that their armed tongue and their independent and peripheral ocular system, although spectacular, are only a small part of their incredible abilities. Actually, the chameleon’s trump card is its ability to evolve and adapt...

Located in the historic center of Mexico City, Mexico's capital, Mercado de Sonora is home to the country's largest esoteric market. Here, low-price herbs, amulets, potions and talismans are sold like hotcakes, and people practice all kinds of magic, both black and white. The Mexicans call it the witchcraft market. With its 400 tiny stalls spread along 11 narrow, crowded aisles, Mercado de Sonora is a city within a city. A place full of mystery that reveals the dual dimension of Mexican spirituality, between Catholic fervor and the continuing existence of pre-Hispanic rites and esoteric beliefs. It's a particularly lively market, especially in early November around the time of the Day of the Dead.

Brazil’s largest wetland has long been a sanctuary for jaguars, reptiles, tapirs and many bird species. Plagued by exceptional drought and wildfires in 2020, it is also suffering from the development of agriculture and livestock farming. To save this unique ecosystem and its iconic species, protected areas are becoming a matter of urgency.

Did you always think that fish were mute, amnesiac, or insensitive to pain? Well you'd be wrong. Scientists are discovering that fish have astonishing cognitive abilities, a hectic social life, and even emotions. What if, fish were not so stupid after all? An investigation that takes place in the heart of the sea…

There is the land and the sea, as there are men and fish. Two worlds, which seem unable to communicate and understand each other. We treat these animals in a way that would seem outrageous if they were cats, baby seals or pandas. However, in 2019, some fish have joined the VIP circle of species capable of passing an age-old intelligence test: recognizing themselves in a mirror. Thus, it is now known that fish have self-awareness like humans, chimpanzees or dolphins. Fish are full of surprises: we discover that they are melomaniacs, like tickling or can have depression. 

The southern east French coastline’s ecosystem was one of the earliest to be affected by climate change. The Mediterranean is warming up at a rate that is 20% higher than the rest of the world and the effects are already strongly affecting this very special wildlife. How does this unique ecosystem, composed of native and rare species, deploy the utmost ingenuity to try and adapt to an increasingly extreme environment?

In this spectacular and fragile semi-desert environment, underwater heat waves have recently occurred. On land as well as in the sea, native organisms are strongly challenged by plants or fish coming from warmer or more arid latitudes. Terrible viruses and dormant bacteria found in the water are awakened and proliferate thanks to the heat. In this culture medium, some organisms have already been decimated. Others show an unsuspected capacity of adaptation... Let's discover these fighters of global warming, thanks to this 4K journey in a magnificent threatened site kown as the Massif des Callanques.