ARTE Distribution

In the footstep of its big sister 360° GEO Reports, GEOlino is the perfect documentary series for inquisitive boys and girls aged 5 to 16 years. It portrays the daily lives of outstanding children and tells fascinating animal stories. Season 6 soon!
 

The documentaries inspire children to think and explain the world: from the nucleus to the Big Bang, from children in India, to the Amazon jungle, to polar scientists in the eternal ice of Antarctica.

Launched in September 1941 with the release of the initial entry, Superman, the cartoons were produced by Max Fleischer. The first cartoon was received to critical acclaim and was nominated for an Academy Award.

The Superman shorts look like feature films, complete with tracking shots and a stunning variety of camera angles, each of which necessitates a new background. Artists duplicate real illumination, molding the characters with light and dark, and providing them with dramatic shadows. The films move at an accelerating pace, with cuts coming faster and faster toward the climaxes, propelled by Sammy Timberg's dynamic musical scores. Special effects involving fires, rays, and explosions set the screen ablaze.
The second cartoon, "The Mechanical Monsters", was released near the end of 1941. It features Superman battling an army of gigantic, flame-spewing, flying robots in a series of sensational scenes. Later special effects extravaganzas include "The Bulleteers", in which an airborn torpedo smashes through the skyscrapers of Metropolis, and "The Magnetic Telescope", in which an astronomer's harebrained invention sends an asteroid hurtling earthward. When not struggling with mad scientists, Superman takes on ferocious forces of nature like gorillas (in Terror on the Midway) or dinosaurs (The Arctic Giant).
In 1942 Paramount Studios acquired Fleischer Studios and gave it the new name of "Famous Studios." They produced the last 8 of the 17 shorts and continued the series until 1943.

With 75 films, Cartoon Factory is both a historical monument and a moment of pleasure for children aged 7 to 77...

During the thirties in the US, cartoons were one of the major types of film. Walt Disney's contemporaries constantly innovated and created new and original worlds... A considerable amount of research, and reediting, done for ARTE by the best specialists of the genre, has saved a number of these cartoon classics. With more than 75 films, we rediscover Alice, as well as the fabulous adventures of Popeye and Olive. We also discover Bosco, Tom and Jerry, at the time when they were not yet a cat and a mouse... Cartoon Factory is both a historical monument and a moment of pleasure for children aged 7 to 77.

A crazy scientist tries to destroy the planet with a laser beam.
 
 
 

Superman sets out to scupper his plans.

10 year old Luam spent most of his life on the streets and is now moving to Senhor Joaquim`s farm. Senhor Joaquim and his wife Dona Terezinha take care of street kids and offer them a new life.

On their farm the kids are allowed to be kids. But they also learn about responsibility, as every kid gets his own horse.

So does Luam and he alone has now to take care of it. If he wants to, he also will be in the spotlight one day, in a big horse show. Just as all the other kids who want to prove that they are more than just street kids.

Twelve years ago Claudine André founded the "Lola ya Bonobo"the "Paradise of the Bonobos." In this paradise Claudine and her staff raise orphan Bonobos whose parents have ended up as bushmeat on the markets of Congolese cities.

Claudine André spares them from a life as pets - squeezed alone into tiny cages. Most of the animals suffered great pain and it takes a lot of patience and time to rehabilitate them. But there are also moments of happiness, such as the first birth of a baby Bonobo in "Lola ya Bonobo".

For 18 year old Guo Jia the day begins at 5:30 am with endurance training. After breakfast there will be stretching and Kung Fu Fight classes, just before the normal school classes start.

For four years now Guo Jia is visiting the only women's Kung Fu school in China: a boarding school for 70 girls, located in a secluded valley of the holy Shongshan Mountains.

Goa Jia had always dreamed of becoming a Kung Fu fighter - learning how to jump over roofs and walls like her heroines in the movies. She feels privileged to be part of the school and now it is her time to show what she has learned- in a competition against another school.

15 year old Simon Aguape plays violin in the village's orchestra. He lives with his parents and siblings at the border of the Bolivian Rain Forest in a straw hut without electricity and water.

Now Simon is about to leave his village for the first time in his live as his orchestra has a performance in Peru. Everybody is really excited, as most of the orchestras members are leaving the village for the first time. But not as much as Simon- at the Inca's capital city Cuzco in a baroque church, he is supposed to play his first big solo.

Excitement at the APOPO Center in Tanzania: One of the rats had offspring- a huge success for this special breed. It shows pretty fast, that one of the babies is really special. He is named Ronaldinho- after the famous football player.

In just a few weeks the little one learns how to find buried mines, as rats like Ronaldinho are able to smell TNT. There are still about 110 Million antipersonnel mines in the world which claim up to 20.000 lives a year. Every day the training gets harder for Ronaldinho and at the end he has to past the biggest test: at an open field, out of thousand different smells he has to find the TNT. Will he make it and be one of Africa's live saving rats at the end?

Fast as the wind a group of young monks gallops through the wild forest in the north of Thailand, close to the border of Burma and Laos. Their monastery is located in the so called "Golden Triangle" a popular location for crime and drug distribution.

With their abbot Phra Khru Ba Neau Chai the monks are on their way to the village Hua Mae Kham, where they are about to meet 7 year old Pumbui, a little thief and liar.
His parents aren't able to take care of him properly, which makes the little boy an easy victim for a career in drug dealing. That is why Abbot Phra Khru Ba Neau Chai wants to take the boy to the monastery, to educate him and provide him a better future. As all the kids there, Pumpui will learn about discipline and responsibility.

During the day, 13 year old Indian Neraj Jath takes care of the family's goats in the dry landscape close to the dessert Thar Desert. In the evening, she visits the school in her little village. In her spare time she is the minister for agriculture at the children's parliament of Rajasthan.

The aim of the parliament is, to teach children about democracy and rule of law. About 3000 kids from 150 schools choose the parliament. In her function Neraj is amongst other things responsible for the school facilities and the water supply in the villages.

The main problem of the area is the long lasting drought. Neraj's idea is to use the traditional Puppet Theatre to call attention to this problem. But in the old traditions of the village the word of a woman means almost nothing. Will the 13 year old girl be able to convince the council of elders?

Many young men of Burundi turned an old tradition into occupation: they are "Batimbos", drummers. Their huge drums are carried traditionally on the head. Following the rhythm of the drums the young men jump into the air and perform acrobatic tricks according to a set choreography.

Some of the men are even able to play their drums with their feet- while they are walking! The power and energy they develop seems unbelievable and gives courage and hope for a new beginning to a country tainted by sorrow and suffering due to civil war. To pass the traditional knowledge on, there is a child in every percussion group. One of the talents is the little Luxel, called Reagan. Just like his father Luxel wants to be a drummer one day. Soon, the little boy will have his first public performance.