ARTE Distribution

Host of the 2022 next football World Cup, Qatar is as tiny as it is immensely rich. Torn between Western modernism and Bedouin conservatism, ruled by the iron fist of a royal family, it sits on the planet gas field and is a major geopolitical Middle East player.
 

This World Cup will be a symbol of the success of the “Qatar start-up” created by the House of Thani, a family saga with an almost romantic dimension. With its billions spent on everything, its princes and princesses with glamorous photos worthy of Vanity Fair covers and its palace revolutions, the Al Thani dynasty – which could be described as the “Kennedys of the Middle East” – will have succeeded in three generations in transforming a corner of inhospitable desert into a global capital. This unauthorised portrait of the rulers at the head of the richest country per capita on the planet will contrast the nation’s extremely rapid success story with its darker side: a diplomacy of corruption, worrying investments across the planet, the exploitation of quasi-slaves from Asia; but above all, the financing of the Muslim Brotherhood and multiple armed Islamist groups, some of which are terrorist, throughout the Arab Spring.

At a time when Lebanon is going through one of its most acute existential crises, we look back at the history of Hezbollah, a controversial party supported by Iran. An inside account that includes unpublished testimonies of the Shiite fighters themselves.

Forty years ago, in June 1982, Israel invaded southern Lebanon, dubbed Operation Peace for Galilee by the Israelis. A small guerrilla group came together in secret to resist this offensive. Formed and supported by the Islamic Republic of Iran, it officially declared itself in 1985 as Hezbollah: The Party of God. Four decades later, this small group has grown to become one of the most important military and political forces in the Middle East. A party of resistance for some, a terrorist group for others, Hezbollah is admired as much as it is feared. But the organization, practically a state within a state, is living through turbulent times as Lebanon is experiencing a major political and economic crisis.

The Eastern Mediterranean has become an area of strategic, military, and geopolitical tensions. An investigation that deciphers this historical turning point of the balance of this part of the world.
 

Given the importance and complexity of the issues at stake in the Estern Mediterranean, it seems necessary to provide keys to comprehension to a public constantly solicited by an influx of direct information. The director knows this territory extremely well and has privileged access. 

Opportunistic and unscrupulous, Vladimir Putin's foreign policy has put Russia back at the center of global geostrategic issues. With many experts, the documentary questions the deep motivations of this new cold war.

The Russian military intervention in Syria in 2015 caught everyone off guard, allowing the Kremlin to once again become a major player in the Middle East.

Boris Johnson, the UK Brexit leader, left an indelible mark on his country – for better or for worse. While the UK is facing its first pandemic crisis on its own, what future is there for Europe and the country?

With the COVID-19 pandemic, the United Kingdom is facing a major crisis on its own, without the European Union’s help, for the first time.
Behind his veil of buffoonery, will Boris Johnson embrace the stature that befits a statesman or lead his country to disaster? At heart, is he the United Kingdom's gravedigger? Or is he a restorer of British greatness?

The Baltic Sea became a major geopolitical hotspot. Natural border between 8 countries of the EU and Russia, it crystallised many strategic issues: gas pipelines, territories and foreign political influences...

It is now clear that the time when Europeans could consider the Baltic as "their" lake is over: Russia intends to reclaim its shores lost with the end of the USSR and is confronting Brussels with an unprecedented challenge. The stakes are indeed high and are not limited to a dispute over sovereignty between rival powers. For Europe, the Baltic Sea is a strategic hydrocarbon supply corridor, and the heated debates over the construction of the NordStream gas pipelines are causing deep discord within the EU member states.  

In light of current events in Russia, ARTE Distribution proposes a selection of in-depth documentaries to understand geopolitical stakes. Our films take a closer look on Russia's geopolitics, Poutine’s strategy, territory disputes and everyday citizen life.
 
CLICK HERE TO DISCOVER OUR RUSSIAN CURRENT AFFAIRS LINE-UP

North Korea does indeed exist beyond the totalitarian varnish covering it. This movie sets out to meet the real North Koreans. We will observe this singular society and discover what makes them tick. 

We simply need to understand their lives – which is actually quite the uneasy task. Following the North Korean people's daily lives we discover an exotic, surprising life that is often rather funny – far from the military and dogmatic seriousness of the regime.

A documentary thriller about one of the world’s most profitable illegal trades: Rhinoceros horn. At 50,000 euros per kilo, it sells for a higher price than gold or cocaine... When crushed into a powder and mixed with alcohol, it is said to be a miracle cure.

Trafficking has spread to all continents and threatens the biodiversity of our planet, along with the national and economic security of multiple countries.
This investigation reveals the underside of this high-stakes battle to save the rhinoceros and how – all around the world – detectives, scientists and police officers sometimes risk their lives to take on the criminals behind this trade. Using methods straight out of a spy novel, they track suspects and infiltrate the sophisticated crime gangs who threaten the species with extinction.

*2 prizes at Deauville GREEN AWARDS 2019 : Best Documentary Award and the Golden Green Award in Preservation of the biodiversity category*

The incredible and untold story of the invention, development and improvement of China's surveillance and repression system over the decades. A new light on China’s totalitarian power following the 20th National Congress of the Chinese Communist Party.

LAOdong and GAIzao mean "work" and "reform" in Chinese, so LAOGAI is the concept of reform through work. Starting from the present time – the Communist party dealing with Covid – the series will take you back to the origins of the laogai and follow its evolution at the rhythm of the great political caesuras of contemporary China, each period having its share of purges, accumulating one on top of the other, and sparing no sector of Chinese society. A spectacular documentary series that will reveal that China is the greatest totalitarian power of all times.

A new globalized phenomenon : cell phones recording images of over-equipped police facing unarmed furious crowds. The war of images further polarizes police and protesters.

How did it come to this? New revolts, less and less supervised, subjected to a low intensity war. We must avoid killing. “Less lethal” is the new norm: rubber bullets, grenades... But these dangerous weapons can cause harm.
For democracies, the challenges are multiplying. How can the relationship between the population and the police be restored? What are the responses to street disturbances? 

An incredible investigation following a cry for help written in Mandarin and hidden in the instructions for a pregnancy test purchased in France. This investigation takes us to the very heart of China and its prison factories.

After two cries for help found in the United States in 2012 and in Great Britain in 2019, this is the first time that a missive in Mandarin elaborated and argued will be revealed. A 21st century message in a bottle. This letter, which describes the atrocious functioning of the Chinese prison system, is the result of an extraordinary investigation that crosses borders. It is a hybrid investigation between an investigation to identify the links that make the exploitation of prisoners possible and a quest to get closer to the person who wrote the letter and their fellow prisoners. Our "comfort" is based on a system similar to the one that existed in the United States 150 years ago: slavery.