ARTE Distribution

In half a century, Dubai has transformed from a small pearl-fishing port into one of the most prosperous and futuristic cities on the planet, rivaling New York, London, or Paris. With the war waged by the United States and Israel against Iran, this new Eldorado now faces the gravest crisis of its existence. Will the city of the future withstand this new threat?

Behind the skyscrapers and the glamour, the city operates like a private company, ruled without checks or balances by its emir. A capitalism without democracy, where millions of foreigners have no right but to work.
The film delves into the inner workings of this autocratic regime, held up as a global model, and questions its viability at a time when Dubai is cited as an example for the reconstruction of Gaza.

In half a century, Dubai has transformed from a small pearl-fishing port into one of the most prosperous and futuristic cities on the planet, rivaling New York, London, or Paris. With the war waged by the United States and Israel against Iran, this new Eldorado now faces the gravest crisis of its existence. Will the city of the future withstand this new threat?

Behind the skyscrapers and the glamour, the city operates like a private company, ruled without checks or balances by its emir. A capitalism without democracy, where millions of foreigners have no right but to work.
The film delves into the inner workings of this autocratic regime, held up as a global model, and questions its viability at a time when Dubai is cited as an example for the reconstruction of Gaza.

Greenland’s strategic location and mineral wealth have made it a geopolitical hotspot, drawing interest from the U.S., Europe, Russia, and China. As tensions rise under Trump’s second presidency, Greenland is worried. How far will he go, and how will Europe respond?

Greenland is the land of all paradoxes. The largest island in the world, with its 2.2 million square kilometers covered 80% by ice, is also one of the least densely populated territories on Earth, with barely 57,000 inhabitants. Mainly living off fishing, tourism, and Danish subsidies, yet sitting on a potential treasure of... We are talking about 25% of the world's hydrocarbon reserves, the third-largest uranium reserves, and 20% of rare earths... An icy Eldorado that today sparks all sorts of ambitions. Greenland has become one of the hotspots where the future of our multipolar world is being shaped. This is what the film will explore, addressing both its economic and commercial challenges, as well as its geo-ecological and military implications.
 

The documentary traces the long-standing ties between the mafia and American presidents, using Donald Trump’s rise as a common thread. Through insights from historians, journalists, former FBI agents, and former mobsters, it reveals the mafia’s influence on the United States’ politics and economy since Roosevelt.

An unknown chapter of American history is revealed – that of a democracy shaped, infiltrated and sometimes corrupted by organized crime groups. From the early days of the United States through the post-war period, the mafia infiltrated the heart of power, mixing criminal interests and political agendas. Through the eyes of mobsters, the documentary explores the rise of individuals like Lansky, Costello and Giancana, and their ties to presidents such as Roosevelt, Kennedy and Reagan.
 
Beyond the historical narrative, the series raises a troubling question: what is left of democracy when such a powerful criminal organization approaches and influences it without being stopped? Lansky’s dream of politics and organized crime serving one another may be on the verge of coming true. A burning alert as Donald Trump’s return to power revives concerns about the weaknesses of the American system.

First there was Big Tobacco, now it’s time for Big Food. The first lawsuits were filed a couple months ago. Children are at the heart of the matter since it has been revealed that the junk food industry targeted them with dangerously sophisticated global marketing methods.

After Big Tobacco, it is Big Food's turn now. In the United States, the first lawsuits are being filed, and they show a global reality: for more than thirty years, the giants of the food industry have been secretly tightening their grip on children. 
 
From North America to the Southern Hemisphere, all the way to Europe, a whole generation grew up under the grip of the junk food industry. Child malnutrition is no longer defined by thinness but by obesity. It is a quiet pandemic, fueled by increasingly sophisticated and intrusive marketing campaigns, from chemical conditioning to social media addiction.
 
Lawyers have unearthed previously unpublished documents that expose the industry's methods in every detail. Secret archives and eyewitness accounts form the backbone of this documentary and shed light on three decades of struggle. 

Massive pollution, labor exploitation, corruption, privatization of public land and the destruction of marine ecosystems, a two-part, 45-minute investigation into this secretive and extremely powerful industry, which welcomes 30 million passengers each year and generates $75 billion in revenue.

From corporate headquarters in Miami to the power circles of Washington, D.C., and across the Caribbean, Europe, and Asia, this documentary thriller traces the hidden networks where law firms, exotic flags, and offshore companies intertwine in a meticulously orchestrated web. While passengers disembark in the Caribbean or Northern Europe, workers speak out about grueling schedules and constant pressure, and experts reveal the extent of the environmental impacts caused by major cruise lines—a lucrative and rapidly growing industry.

She is Italy’s first female prime minister and the first far-right leader to head a major European democracy since 1945. To understand this political shift, we must look at the group she joined in her youth and later brought to power: the Gabbiani (Seagulls).

Housed in an ancient ruin on the Oppian Hill near the Colosseum, the section works as a tight-knit group bound by the ideals found in Tolkien’s The Lord of the Rings, a book they hold sacred. This small group of activists known as the Gabbiani, whom she met in the early 1990s, has stood by her since the beginning of her career in politics. They are now her closest confidants, helping her head Italy. This historical investigation tells the story of how this community rose to power, profiling its key members and revealing how political decisions are made, caught between normalization of the far right and loyalty to the group’s founding values. The documentary also explores Meloni's dilemma: cooperating with European institutions or aligning with Donald Trump, who sees her as a strategic ally in building a so-called ‘reactionary international’.
 

Algorithms and data have become strategic assets for governments. Having control over them is essential in an increasingly polarized world. This film reveals what lies behind TikTok’s extrodinary rise.

For several months, investigations carried out by journalists and information gathered by various intelligence services have shown that TikTok allows the Chinese government to access hundreds of millions of data from American and European users. This data is fundamental when it comes to conducting influence or cognitive wars and can be a real weapon in the event of an armed conflict. A war of narratives is thus being waged: banning TikTok means preserving the liberal order embodied by the United States in the face of the Chinese Communist Party, which would use artificial intelligence to undermine democracies. This emerging doctrine within public opinion, crystallizing around TikTok, is just the tip of the iceberg. Algorithms and data have become strategic assets for governments. Having control over them is essential in an increasingly polarized world.

An international investigation reveals that, on Putin’s orders, a system that was set up by oligarchs and closely linked to the Russian oil and gas industry, corrupted global finance. Explore four decades of Russian economic and financial history, through the rise and fall of the oligarchs.

Featuring testimonies and archival footage, the series shows how a handful of men took control of the Russian economy and established themselves as partners of the major Western powers, not only for their own benefit, but also to serve Vladimir Putin's ambitions. By focusing on their backgrounds, their motivations, methods and ambitions, the series exposes this mafia-like economic system, which reproduces itself like a sprawling octopus and adapts to geopolitical upheavals. This international investigation analyzes four decades of Russian economic and financial history, through the birth and rise of the oligarchs. Like a film noir, this series presents a bitter Russian novel, depicting the homeland of the Tsars and Lenin as a mafia-like petro-monarchy, where cynicism, violence, greed, and the thirst for power seem to have no limit.

The complex world of geopolitics broken down into ten-minute, bite-sized chunks. You'll never sound uninformed at the dinner table again.

MAPPING THE WORLD allows you to understand current hot topics, whether they deal with the state of the planet, environment, economy or geopolitics.

We are thrilled to present the CRIME & INVESTIGATIONS COLLECTION, bringing  straight in the heart of the most intriguing global criminal deeds — from powerful organized crime networks to international spy mysteries. 

CLICK HERE TO DISCOVER THE INTERACTIVE COLLECTION

Since the beginnings of journalism, nothing has beaten people talking about ideas and facts. To bring you current affairs with body and an extra dose of soul, ARTE REPORTS favours encounters with real people.

Every week, ARTE REPORTS reviews in images the events that made the headlines.