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After The Great Greek Myths, The Iliad and The Odyssey, and The Viking Myths, get ready to dive into the fascinating world of ancient Egypt and the secrets of the gods who shaped its mythology.

The Egyptian civilization, both fascinating and millennial, is one of the richest and most mysterious civilizations in the world. It survived for twice as long as the current Western Christian civilization. It was built around a constellation of gods and goddesses. Between ancient papyri, betrayals and secret powers, Egyptian mythology reveals a spiritual world where each deity, protagonist of the greatest legends of our culture, embodied a facet of life and nature. A journey into the heart of the invisible and the sacred, where beliefs and art collide.

What is the price of sugar, this delicious poison? WIth sequences set in the present day, this historical investigation reveals a global system still fueled by the exploitation of land and people that is rooted in its original sin: slavery.

What is the price of sugar? How much does the fleeting pleasure of this delicious but useless poison really cost? It's a global addiction that has been fueled by the exploitation of land and people for over five centuries. Sugar was the basis of a civilization which, from the transatlantic slave trade to modern forms of exploitation, has never ceased to brutalize labor in all its forms, and to perpetuate immense lies in order to guarantee the prosperity of its industry. The whole world has been shaped by sugar. From Brazil to Réunion, from Europe to South Africa and from India to the Dominican Republic, its production has laid the foundations for the modern capitalist system, devastated the environment, and led to massive population movements. As the curse of sugar continues to haunt certain parts of the world, we set off to these exploited lands to discover a history of which we are all heirs.

 They built one of the first major cities on the Mesoamerican continent, long before the Maya and the Aztecs. Who were the Olmecs, the sculptors of those famous and enigmatic colossal heads?

In the tropical plains of the Gulf of Mexico, around 1800 BCE, a civilization as ancient as it is mysterious emerged. Who were the Olmecs? How did they live? As pioneers, builders, and artists, their influence left a significant mark on the history of pre-Columbian America.
 
In San Lorenzo, Mexican archaeologist Virginia Aerieta is excavating the ruins of the first Olmec capital, lost in the jungle. Thanks to exceptional access to the site and its discoveries, as well as the work of scientists from different areas of expertise —anthropologists, biologists, physicists—the film reveals the secrets of this little-known civilization.
 
For the first time, 3D animations based on twenty years of archaeological data unveil the architecture and organization of the great Olmec capitals, the founding metropolises of the Mesoamerican civilization.

Historical Palestine is no more—now divided and fractured. In 1948, the State of Israel was established. The Zionist project prevailed over the idea of a greater Arab nation. 850,000 Palestinians (out of the 1.2 million living in Palestine at the time) went into exile, heading for camps set up in neighboring Arab countries, creating regional turmoil. But resistance was taking shape, embodied by one man: Yasser Arafat and his organization, the PLO.

Palestine, a region known since ancient times, was never a land without people. A land of three holy sites, it is a sanctuary for 75% of humanity, through which countless peoples and ethnic groups have passed, leaving their mark. A rich and fertile land ruled by great families. Long under Ottoman rule, Palestine had to face the ambitions of the Russian and Austro-Hungarian Empires, French and British colonialism, and the Zionist project, until this small territory eventually lost its name.

After decades of deadly clashes and wars, Palestinians and Israelis attempted to make peace in Oslo in 1993, despite the rise of Hamas in Gaza. The handshake between Yasser Arafat and Yitzhak Rabin seemed to mark the beginning of a new era. But it was short-lived. Starting in the 2000s, on both sides, it was the era of the hawks, of religious extremists who preferred war to peace, reducing Palestine to a fragmented territory.

The collapse of the Maya civilization didn't happen.

Long portrayed as a “collapsed” civilization, the Maya owe this image primarily to 19th-century interpretations of their abandoned ruins. In reality, this was not a sudden disappearance but a gradual transformation: population shifts, and social, political, and religious changes. The Mayan languages, which are still spoken today, thus serve as a reminder that archeology debunks the myth of a collapse and restores the truth about the evolution of their history.

What is the price of our addiction to sugar? For five centuries, it has been a driving force in our history. The pleasure of its sweetness and the profits from its trade have justified the worst: conquest, colonization, slavery, and forced labor. Across Europe, the Caribbean, the Americas, and the Indian Ocean, in search of the sources of our addiction, the first episode of this historical investigation reveals the dark side of “white gold,” from Christopher Columbus to the dawn of the 20th century.

The history of the conquest of the Americas cannot be told without mentioning sugar, and the history of sugar cannot be told without mentioning the triangular trade and colonization. A luxury product that became a staple of the European diet, sugar is a globalized and destructive success story. From the beginning of colonization in the 15th century to the Industrial Revolution in the 19th century,
it contributed to Europe's prosperity at the cost of enslaving the indigenous peoples of the Americas, then, on a massive scale,
men and women from Africa. The successive abolitions of slavery in the 19th century weakened this highly profitable sugar economy. But it held on, and even invented new models of servitude. Since its origins, the sugar economy has constantly reinvented itself. At the end of the 19th century, it was booming and about to reach its peak. Its fate was now linked to that of the new power, the United States.

How did a failed coup d’état carried out by a handful of generals in July 1936 turn into one of the most brutal civil wars in history? Largely because of General Franco’s rallying who joined the insurgents with Hitler’s support.
For its part, the Republic realized that it was being abandoned by the Western democracies and could only count on the International Brigades - and on the limited, yet very interventionist, support of the USSR. 

Brazil, 1964. With support from the United States government, the first military dictatorship, also referred to as the Fifth Brazilian Republic, was established. Many opponents of the regime fled to Chile. But in 1973, with the support of President Nixon, General Pinochet overthrew Salvador Allende. Right-wing dictatorships across South America launched Operation Condor to coordinate their repression. Carter’s rise to power brought hope: he returned control of the Panama Canal to Panama and allowed the Sandinistas to take power in Nicaragua. But Reagan being elected in 1980, marked the beginning of a new era.

In over a hundred countries worldwide, especially in Europe, but not exclusively, May 1st commemorates the struggles of the labor movement with union marches and celebrations. It is a day of protest that has gradually turned into a public holiday, one of the few in the calendar not rooted in a religious tradition. Yet this date weaves together several (hi)stories at once…

The challenge of the ‘Placards’: Religious war, defiance of faith and the crown, and the spirit of reformist millenarianism.

In 1534, the ‘Affair of the Placards’ marked the public emergence of the Reformation in France: clandestine posters began to target the Roman Church, as far as within the King's inner circle. Despite the following repression, the incident revealed a profound religious schism and heralded the long era of the French Wars of Religion.