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!

A geopolitical journey to the heart of a monumental project, the “Five Seas System”, a network of Russian waterways designed by Putin and based on Russian imperialism, linking Russia to five seas: the Black Sea, the Sea of Azov, the Caspian Sea, the Baltic Sea and the White Sea.

Since coming to power, Vladimir Putin has pursued an ambitious yet little-known goal: restoring Russia’s greatness by reclaiming control over the “Five Seas.” Inspired by Peter the Great and Stalin, this vision aims to make Moscow a maritime power. From the 2008 war in Georgia to the 2014 annexation of Crimea, the 2022 invasion of Ukraine, and recent tensions in Nagorno-Karabakh, each conflict follows the same pattern: using maritime regions as tools of reconquest and influence. Putin wages military actions and a hybrid war — blending military action, political and economic control, and digital interference. With exclusive archives, testimonies from experts, and on-the-ground footage from Georgia, Estonia, and Finland, Putin and the Five Seas War unveils a neo-imperial project long underestimated by the West.
 
A crucial documentary for understanding a geopolitical strategy driven by nationalism, trade routes, energy ambitions, and imperial memory.

How did a failed coup d’état carried out by a handful of generals in July 1936 turn into one of the most brutal civil wars in history? Largely because of General Franco’s rallying who joined the insurgents with Hitler’s support.
For its part, the Republic realized that it was being abandoned by the Western democracies and could only count on the International Brigades - and on the limited, yet very interventionist, support of the USSR. 

Spring 1939. After 1,000 days of fighting, 400 000 deaths, the guns finally fell silent. But that didn’t mean peace was back in the country. Franco continued his crusade against the Republicans who had dared to oppose his coup. By 1940, over 240 000 prisoners were crammed in concentration camps and between 150 000 and 200 000 people were missing. From then on, state Catholicism governed every aspect of Spanish life. Women were reduced to the roles of wives and mothers, and the babies of Republican women were taken from them. The resistance fighters who had continued the armed struggle against Franco never managed to overthrow him. Franco outlived his allies, Hitler and Mussolini.

Majestic and timeless, Mont Blanc is much more than just a summit. The cradle of mountaineering, it first saw science guide the first ascents, before becoming the Mecca of high-altitude sports. But Mont Blanc is first and foremost a living, natural heritage, concentrating all the biodiversity of the Alpine massifs. Today, global warming is jeopardizing the snows that were once thought to be eternal, and with them the harmony between man and mountain.

Flavie Villanueva, a catholic priest, worked tirelessly for years to get former president of the Philippines, Rodrigo Duterte arrested. On 11 March 2025, Villanueva’ persistence was rewarded: Duterte was extradited to face charges at the ICC in the Hague for his presidency’s brutal and relentless “war on drugs” which claimed the lives of thousands.

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.

In August 2022, a drowned man was fished out of the Rio Grande. Many migrants perish trying to cross this last obstacle on their way to America, the river separating Mexico from the USA. This man’s migration story was remarkable: A Syrian who fled to Lebanon during the war, then built a life in Brazil before trying to reach America.

This is a secretly filmed report from a country that is closed to foreign journalists. Myanmar, in civil war for four years, was devastated by an earthquake on 28 March 2025. The initial toll: over 4,000 dead and 3,000 injured, hundreds missing and thousands of houses, temples and monasteries destroyed.

Nicaragua then went through a bloody civil war where the Sandinistas and the “Contras”, who were backed by the United States, were opposed. In Panama, Manuel Noriega, a longtime ally of the CIA, turned his country into a drug hub before being overthrown during a US invasion. In Chile, the United States eventually turned its back on General Pinochet. While democracy was gaining ground across the continent, Venezuela was hit by a crisis. In 1992, Hugo Chávez attempted to carry out a coup d’état. Although he failed, he became a popular hero.

For more than sixty years, Korea has been divided into two states, two diametrically opposed societies. Is reunification still possible? Beyond stereotypes, North and South Koreans tell their stories together.

In the fall of 2017, Washington and Pyongyang were still threatening each other with nuclear strikes, to the point of worrying China, Russia, Japan and the rest of the world. What happened then? The “maximum pressure” imposed by the United-States paid out? In this unique film, senior executives from the two Koreas, the United-States, Russia and China tell this story together.