ARTE Distribution

The history of anti-Semitism is a story of demonization that is deeply intertwined with the societies, countries, and ages where it takes place.

It is the story of anti-Semites, of those who, over time, have made Jews their worst enemies. Indeed, at certain times in their history, societies have had a need for a common enemy to unite or galvanize their people, to divert attention, or to serve as a scapegoat. At other times, Jewish people have happily integrated within the communities where they live.
 
This series examines the twists and turns of this story, from Antiquity to the modern day, from the shores of the Mediterranean to those of the Volga, and from the Iberian Peninsula to the birch forests of Poland. It will encompass Stalin and Pope John XXIII, Hitler and Alfred Dreyfus, King Louis IX or Saint-Louis as he was subsequently known, and Spinoza; some figures of hatred, others more benevolent characters.
 
The visual framework of the narrative will comprise both the traces left around the world, and remarkable 3D historical reconstructions created for the video game Assassin's Creed, acting as illustrations from the past, along with photographs and film archives from more recent times. It will draw upon research and analysis carried out by prestigious and respected academics. Eschewing witness testimonies and subjective opinions, it will bring together a wide range of contribution from some 30 historians, psychologists, and psychoanalysts to explore the multiple facets of the phenomenon and how they have evolved over time.
 
It will focus on specific stories from each era that mark out and illustrate the form of these manifestations of violence and hatred in an enlightening and moving manner. It will also provide context for the fightback against this recurrent phenomenon.
 
This four-episode series paints a comprehensive picture of this, “the longest hatred”.

She changed the course of history: a cold case following the most enigmatic heroine of the Middle Ages. Dive into her epic rise and spectacular fall, with 3D animations and never-before-seen documents of her rehabilitation trial. 

An epic rise and a spectacular fall: the destiny of a young village girl who claimed to have been sent by God to save France from the English invaders. Exalted by an entire people, she had the ear of the powerful, became a war leader, won decisive battles, liberated cities and had her king crowned. Her adventure would take a tragic turn – at the age of 19, she was burned alive at the stake after a mock trial. A deep dive into European medieval history, between animation and historical documentary.

Jesus, the founding figure of Christianity, is also an exceptional character in the Qur’an. Why? In what way? This series leads the investigation, with 26 of the greatest specialists from around the world and explore the emergence of Islam during the tiem of Muhammad. 

By the creators of “Corpus Christi.

A historical and scientific enquiry into the origins of the New Testament and the life of Jesus Christ involving specialists from all over the world.

Corpus Christi explores the question of Jesus seen historically and through the texts which tell us about his life. Corpus Christi tackles the viewpoints of the most eminent researchers worldwide who are working on the subject. Corpus Christi enables us to understand just how spectacular the distance is between what we know about Jesus - or what we think we know - and what is known by historians, linguists, bible scholars, and epigraphers who are endlessly analyzing and questioning the most fundamental Christian texts.

Released on DVD by ARTE Video

Best Historical Documentary - Nuit Des Clio 1997.

By the producers of the internationally acclaimed series The Great Greek Myths, this new series unveils for the first time the true essence of Nordic tales based on ancient texts.  These Nordic legends gave birth to the most popular culture block busters: Tolkien’s The Lord of the Rings, Marvel’s Thor or George R. R. Martin’s GOT.

The fascination for this mythological world became widespread and and extended to the youngest, sensitive to the many explicit references in popular culture. All these references are only inspired by these myths, by modifying, adapting or transforming them. The original stories have never been faithfully retranscribed with the very soul of these legends, the complexity of their characters. More precisely, it seems that no documentary production has ever attempted to tell these stories as they have come down to us. This documentary series based on ancient texts is therefore unique. It aims to tell the stories in a rigorous  way to constitute a patrimonial answer to the interest in this mythological universe.

The Life of Buddha sets out to re-examine the life and doctrines of Buddha in the places where he himself lived.

It is two thousand five hundred and forty-four years since the Buddha Sakhyamuni departed this world, having attained Nirvana, the highest level of enlightenment.
Although over half of humanity has been influenced by Buddha's ideas, his life-story has been interpreted in various ways.
Our knowledge of Buddha stems mainly from the Tibetan exegetical tradition. But the facts of his life are less well-known and their significance has often been distorted by the religious establishment.
Rather than taking a hagiographical approach, this documentary attempts to find out who Buddha really was. He emerges as an anarchist visionary who attempted to shatter the caste system in which India is still imprisoned, forbade his followers to make representations of him (the earliest image of Buddha dates from seven centuries after his death), and invented the law of cause and effect, whose relevance scientists have recently rediscovered.
His founding texts are explained by lay Buddhists - peasants, children and wise men - and by monks, in the very places where Buddha lived and taught 2,500 years ago.

Programme released on DVD by ARTE Video
Bonus: Beyond the film, 50 minutes of interview about:
A few fundamental notions by the Venerable Thich Nhat Hanh, Buddha and Brahmanism, Lotus Sutra, Bodh Gaya, The representation of the Buddha, Architecture at the time of the Buddha, The Stupas, The University of Nalanda.

The Birth of Christianity recounts the invention of Christianity within Judaism by piecing together, in a timescale from AD 30-150, the disputes and debates that arose among its early protagonists and the first generations in Jerusalem, Antioch, Corinth, Alexandria and Rome, always with the aim of ensuring the salvation of the nation of Israel.

An essential period in western history.
When Jesus died around AD 30, crucified as "King of the Jews" by the Romans in Jerusalem, who could have predicted that a new religion would take root within the next century?

Programme released on DVD by ARTE Video
BONUS :
* A 35 minutes interview with Prieur and Mordillat by Henri Tincq (Le Monde).

The Apocalypse, or the Book of Revelation, is the last book of the New Testament and the point of departure for an immense inquiry into the Christianization of the Roman Empire.

Resolutely faithful to their historical approach and to their cinematographic writing, this collection question 50 scholars from the four corners of the globe on the creation of a new religion. They take us on a journey from the late 1st century of the current era to Saint Augustine's City of God, in the early 5th century.
How and why was it possible for the expectation of the imminent End of Time among a tiny sect of Jewish disciples of Jesus-in just over three hundred years-to end up being the official and only religion of the Roman Empire, a crucial turning point in western civilization?

Ecumenical Patriarch of Constantinople, Bartholomew the first incarnates with his charisma, dynamism, youth and modern spirit the wish for peace.

Why a film about Bartholomew the first ?
The Yugoslavian wars have shown us brutally the orthodox and Muslim parts in Europe. These wars have de-stabilised our continent, and rare were the personalities urging for peace which were actually noticed. Today, Bartholomew the first, incarnates with his charisma, dynamism, youth and modern spirit the wish for peace.
Bartholomew is at the centre of a complex game of international politics. He is the only one of his peers to have a transnational voice. He is one of the few to maintain a fruitful dialogue with Protestants and Catholics alike. As a Turkish citizen of Greek origin he is one of the issues of the conflict between Greece and Turkey. Unlike some others, including some Orthodox Christians from Serbia and Russia, the Yugoslavian wars inspired him to lead a vigorous campaign for peace.
A serious analysis of the Orthodox world soon reveals that Bartholomew stands at the crossroads of the Greek, Muslim, Slavic and Western worlds.
By virtue of the authority he enjoys in the USA, Western Europe and Australia and through his campaign for peace in the Balkans, it can be deduced that Bartholomew is a 'modernistic' and 'reforming' Orthodox Patriarch.

From Sarajevo, to Lebanon and Turkey, and to Jerusalem the film tells us about forgotten or unknown populations, from the Muslims of the Balkans to Eastern Christians.

These two peoples were under the Ottoman yoke for many centuries. They also suffered many setbacks and genocides, some of which have been completely concealed.
In each of these countries, a person who has lived through a tragedy but was strong enough to find the road to redemption and open-mindedness, tells us his or hers very personal story.

Released on DVD by ARTE Video
Bonus : The story of the soundtrack. 15'

What is happening today in European monasteries? Why do young people leave the "normal" world to devote their lives to spirituality? Let's embark on a journey to discover the sources of Europe and share the life of monastic communities from Ireland to Russia and from Greece to Germany.
 

These monasteries are masterpieces of architecture and often they are full of treasures that monks and nuns have transmitted from generation to generation.
We discover a past sometimes forgotten, an unexpected present in these magical places.
AVAILABLE IN ENGLISH: 
01 - AT THE WATER'S EDGE
04 - FROM THE BACK OF THE WORLD

 Apocalyptic ideas have always found a listening ear in the history of the Western world. Even today, the possibility of the end haunts our minds. When and how did this fear of the end of the world appear? In what forms did it manifest itself?

Apocalypse is a Greek word that originally means "revelation". It is the title of the last book of the Bible, which explains why "apocalypse" is connected with all sorts of catastrophic events and with the end of the world.
 
Still today, people often believe that the end of the world is imminent. The discovery of the atomic weapon, the globalization of conflicts are only a few examples of a possible source of such fear. 

The story behind these fears is revealed in this documentary. It seeks to understand how and when these fears first appeared and how they developed over the centuries.