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.

If light could talk, what would it tell us? From the Big Bang to the emergence of life, this poetic and scientific series explores, through never-before-seen images created by artist Roman Hill, the forms and movements of the entities in our universe, from the Dark Age to planet Earth.

From the Big Bang to the emergence of life, this poetic and scientific series explores, through never-before-seen images created by artist Roman Hill, the forms and movements of the entities in our universe, from the Dark Age to planet Earth. Created by screenwriter Thomas Cadène, astrophysicist David Elbaz, and journalist Corentin Duval, this eight-episode series explores the genesis of the Universe.

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!
 

The promise of space colonization fuels illusions that keep us distracted from the fact that we’re killing our planet. Scientists, activists, and Indigenous voices challenge this vision, questioning whether multi-planetary dreams are real progress—or just dangerous myths serving powerful interests.

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.
 

Stars, galaxies, black holes… For 13.8 billion years, light has been the source of all things, shaping the universe’s grandest structures. Born in the chaos of the Big Bang, it remained trapped within matter for a long time, until the day it finally lit up the cosmos with its first burst of brightness.

Light wanders alone through a vast, cold universe. Indifferent, the universe expands and sweeps it away. But the light senses an invisible presence lurking nearby, secretly weaving a mysterious web across the cosmos that traps matter. Then everything changes: the light seizes this matter, sets it ablaze, and rewrites its destiny.

At the cosmic dawn of the universe, light shaped the first stars—true furnaces that gave rise to the first complex atoms. But these stars, too fragile, were born only to die. From their ashes, a new generation of celestial bodies would soon emerge, forming structures even more luminous: the first galaxies.

The universe is running out of steam. The galaxies have burned through matter and exhausted space. Light awakens it and draws the stars into a frenzied dance. Little by little, the cosmic noon approaches—a golden age in which stars are born in abundance and galaxies blossom.