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Fogo Island, in Cape Verde, is dominated by the very active Pico do Fogo volcano. For more than two centuries, a community of irreducibles has settled in the crater and cohabits with the fire monster despite the dangers.

In the Tigray region of Ethiopia, Orthodox Christians confront their fears and baptize their children in churches perched high in the sky. At 800 meters, the troglodyte church of Abuna Yemata Guh is possibly the most inaccessible church on the planet.

Every day in this extraordinary place, men and women risk their lives to edge along the narrow crest to place their dead in the cavities in the rock, and to baptize their newborns on the top of the mountain.
On the day of the baptism, Khasa and her baby leave the village and head for the church. Draped in the traditional white, they walk for more than an hour to the mountain. At the bottom, the young mother scales the rock face, her feet and hands bare. The climb is difficult and extremely dangerous.
In the church, the priest and his assistant are waiting. The murals and ceiling of the church date from the 14th century and have been perfectly preserved. They are considered to be the most exceptional in the region of Tigray. The ceremony begins…

Although pimentón de la Vera comes from a small valley in Extremadura, it is the must-have ingredient in Spanish cuisine. Without it, there would not be any chorizo, nor would there be paella. Contrary to what one might expect, this premium product requires tremendous skill and labor. Here, pimentón de la Vera is a serious business, one that, over the years, helped the region reinvent itself and brought people together.

In the Marquesas Islands, an archipelago floating in the Pacific a thousand leagues from any continent, tattooing was a strong marker of identity. But with the arrival of colonizers and missionaries, this ancestral custom was banished. Now considered an art form in its own right, Patutiki is reclaiming the hearts, bodies and even faces of the inhabitants of these beautiful Polynesian islands.

Iceland is a land of glaciers and volcanoes. This island with its black soil was still wild and uninhabited when the first Vikings arrived in the 9th century. The first colonists settled in the bay of Reykjavik and soon spread across the whole territory. 

From the first Icelandic parliament in Thingvellir to the myths that endure today, the arrival of these pioneers would change this isle of ice and fire forever.

Everywhere in the plains and mountains of central Italy, in Umbria, the spirit of St. Francis is felt. First and foremost in his hometown of Assisi, crowned by the immense basilica named after him. But not only there. On forest trails and in austere hermitages scattered throughout the greenery, some of his followers remain more faithfully connected to his teachings. When Francis was born, around 1181, Assisi was a small mountain village. Tormented by an urgent need to find his path, Saint Francis came here to gather his strength. It was a countryside conducive to solitary meditation.

Eight states, nearly four thousand kilometers long, from Chicago to Los Angeles. U.S. Route 66, established in 1926, connected the industrial East Coast to the shores of California. A black ribbon winding through plains, deserts, and cities.
Route 66 quickly outgrew its role as a simple road to become a cultural myth: celebrated by Steinbeck and Kerouac, immortalized in songs by Nat King Cole, Chuck Berry, Bob Dylan and Bruce Springsteen, and brought to life on screen in films like Cars, it has become the legend of America itself.

Our desire to celebrate is often linked to our relationship with the cosmos and nature. Since time immemorial, the key moments of the agricultural year have been celebrated, just as those of the lunar or solar calendar. People celebrate to implore and thank Nature, to celebrate fertility, the return of the stars, life, and thus ward off death. These are the festivals of sowing, the solstices, and the harvests… 

Why have humans felt the need to wear masks for thousands of years? What is liberated when we leave our everyday identity behind? To understand this, anthropologist Anne-Sylvie Malbrancke will attend two festivals in which anonymity, made possible by costumes, plays a central role: the Diablada de Pillaro (Ecuador), during which men, despite being devout Catholics, transform themselves into devils, and the masked ball of the Cayenne Carnival (French Guiana), dominated by a mysterious figure... the “Touloulou.”