ARTE Distribution

Volcanoes dominate human life in the most surprising ways. Half a billion people live at their feet. They are essential to our existence but may cause our doom.

This blue chip 4 x 52' (and more to come) takes us to 40 volcanoes filmed across 6 continents over 2 years to learn about sacred volcanos, beneficial volcanos, and destructive volcanos to tell the amazing story of the symbiotic link between men and these fire mountains.
Volcanoes led to dinosaurs’ extinction and wiped entire civilizations – like the Minoans in Crete and Santorini in 1450 BCE. Today, the lives of 600 million people are threatened by 1670 active volcanoes. The entire planet is affected: when Mount Pinatubo erupted in the Philippines, global temperatures fell by nearly 1°C for three years. Recent studies suggest that humankind will eventually be wiped out by a gigantic volcanic eruption…
But volcanoes are not just destroyers of world, they also nurture life. It is thought that they may have helped creating life on Earth. Even today, certain wildlife species such as the giant Galápagos tortoise are only found on particular volcanoes. Human beings have always flocked to settle volcanoes in huge numbers to take advantage of their fertile soil, pleasant climate and natural heat sources. Many are even worshipped as deities.

By promising to colonize the cosmos, the space industry is fueling dangerous illusions that accelerate the destruction of the only habitable planet we know of: Earth. Scientists, climate activists, and Indigenous peoples are speaking out against this new vision of space exploration, and calling for space to remain the shared domain of all humanity. What are the consequences of this new space conquest? Are we really on the path to becoming a multi-planetary civilization, or is this just a fantasy shaped by our cultural and historical narratives? And if it is all just a lie, who stands to win and who stands to lose?

By the end of the century, humanity will become an interplanetary civilization, with millions living in autonomous colonies on the Moon, Mars, and massive orbiting space stations, while pioneers journey toward distant stars. Once pure science fiction, these ambitions are now promoted by wealthy entrepreneurs, governments, and powerful networks who see space as both humanity’s next frontier and a lucrative solution to Earth’s limited resources. This vision fuels the booming “New Space” industry, driven by dreams of astronomical profits and fears about our planet’s future.
But for a growing number of space professionals, these projects are nothing more than dangerous illusions. Human biology is deeply tied to Earth’s atmosphere, gravity, and magnetic field, while space remains a hostile and deadly environment. Even in the face of climate catastrophe, overpopulation, and resource depletion, Earth is far more hospitable than any other place in the solar system. There is no Planet B, they insist. Instead of chasing fantasies of distant colonization, humanity should focus on making Earth livable again.
Yet in pursuit of these illusions, the New Space industry contributes to its own doomsday narratives by damaging the atmosphere, disrupting astronomy with satellite pollution, and threatening ecosystems and communities near launch sites.
Resistance is growing. Activists, astronomers, and scientists are working to reframe space exploration within a broader cultural, ecological, and scientific context, and to remind us that, ultimately, we are just a tiny speck in the vast universe whose survival depends on caring for the one fragile planet we already call home.
 

Discover the Science Collection !

CLICK HERE TO DISCOVER THE INTERACTIVE COLLECTION

Human consciousness, which is unique in the living world, has remained a mystery of divine origin for thousands of years. But today, recent and spectacular scientific progress (from medical imagery to quantum physics) is starting to shed light on it.

I think therefore I am. But who thinks inside of us? Who are we? This film takes us on a journey beyond our brains. Like conscience, human intelligence has propelled Man to the peak of evolution, giving him the opportunity to dominate the world. And yet today, intelligence would see to have broken down. Average IQ is dropping. Through this investigation into the nature of intelligence and multiple intelligences, we discover the reasons for this breakdown, and how we can give our intelligence another boost, thanks to scientific progress, including brain cell transplants.

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

Insomnia, sleep apnea, and narcolepsy are massively increasing in the world. In a scientific investigation, we will discover the new methods developed to find sleep: fractional sleep, light therapy, helmets that stimulate the brain. 

Consequences are huge: sick leave from work, billions of dollars lost for companies, and worse: obesity, diabetes, early Alzheimer. The science of sleep has become a major priority for researchers, so much so that the Nobel Prize in medicine has just been awarded for the discovery of the internal biological clock. 

Moss is at the origin of life on Earth. It appeared 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!
 

For a few years now, scientists have known about the existence of another brain within our bodies – billions of connected neurons, molecules (neurotransmitters) that transmit orders and induce independent reactions. This second brain, or “brain down below” is none other than our stomach.

It can function totally independently and carries out far more than just digestion. It reigns over a spectacular colony of one hundred thousand billion bacteria (our gut flora) whose activity is thought to have an impact on our personalities and decisions, and our shyness or temerity. Even more astonishing: certain diseases of the brain, like Parkinson’s disease, for example, could stem from the degeneration of our intestinal neurons. And we could even treat our stomach pains with hypnosis - curing our stomachs by “talking to them”. All these major discoveries have revolutionised our approach to an organ that was previously considered to be dull and passive. The stomach’s intelligence is a new avenue of research that is fascinating research teams the world over. This film takes a look at it.

2014: Bronze Trophy at the Reunion Island Scientific Film Festival; Grand Prix AST: Prize awarded by the City Hall of Paris to the best film in competition - Pariscience (Paris, France).

Food goes straight to our brain. So what should we eat to make sure our brain stays healthy? Many recent discoveries have shown that our mental health, our moods, and our intellectual ability are directly influenced by what we eat, and sometimes in a matter of just a few days.

Carrots make you friendly and fish makes you intelligent... Popular wisdom has long held that there is a close link between our behaviour and certain mental abilities, and diet. Laboratories across the entire world are in the process of revealing and explaining the influence that food has on the way our brain works: microbiota play a part, as "The gut, our second brain" demonstrated, but that's not all. Scientists are bringing to light all kinds of other connections.
 
How can we protect our brain, and most importantly, what is the ideal food to eat to maintain it and make sure it develops properly?

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.

Should cancer really be understood and treated as a “disease of the genes” or could another avenue - which was once abandoned but has now been taken up again - enable us to understand and treat it? Researchers and doctors in various countries think so, and want to revolutionize treatment.
 

 For them, cancer is a disorder of cellular metabolism, which could be treated with a few simple molecules. This film invites us to take stock of their research.