ARTE Distribution

By promising to colonize the cosmos, the space industry is fueling dangerous illusions that accelerate the destruction of the only habitable planet we know of: Earth. Scientists, climate activists, and Indigenous peoples are speaking out against this new vision of space exploration, and calling for space to remain the shared domain of all humanity. What are the consequences of this new space conquest? Are we really on the path to becoming a multi-planetary civilization, or is this just a fantasy shaped by our cultural and historical narratives? And if it is all just a lie, who stands to win and who stands to lose?

By the end of the century, humanity will become an interplanetary civilization, with millions living in autonomous colonies on the Moon, Mars, and massive orbiting space stations, while pioneers journey toward distant stars. Once pure science fiction, these ambitions are now promoted by wealthy entrepreneurs, governments, and powerful networks who see space as both humanity’s next frontier and a lucrative solution to Earth’s limited resources. This vision fuels the booming “New Space” industry, driven by dreams of astronomical profits and fears about our planet’s future.
But for a growing number of space professionals, these projects are nothing more than dangerous illusions. Human biology is deeply tied to Earth’s atmosphere, gravity, and magnetic field, while space remains a hostile and deadly environment. Even in the face of climate catastrophe, overpopulation, and resource depletion, Earth is far more hospitable than any other place in the solar system. There is no Planet B, they insist. Instead of chasing fantasies of distant colonization, humanity should focus on making Earth livable again.
Yet in pursuit of these illusions, the New Space industry contributes to its own doomsday narratives by damaging the atmosphere, disrupting astronomy with satellite pollution, and threatening ecosystems and communities near launch sites.
Resistance is growing. Activists, astronomers, and scientists are working to reframe space exploration within a broader cultural, ecological, and scientific context, and to remind us that, ultimately, we are just a tiny speck in the vast universe whose survival depends on caring for the one fragile planet we already call home.
 

Ramesses II, the great Ramesses, the man who reigned over ancient Egypt for 66 years and carved his power into stone, the mighty pharaoh of the 19th Dynasty made history. But who remembers Muwatalli II? He was Ramesses’ most formidable rival, the heir of a people capable of spreading terror all the way to Babylon’s gates and the man who defied the pharaoh during the Battle of Kadesh in 1275 BC. Yet, this forgotten people dominated a great part of Anatolia and modern-day Syria for over five centuries (17th-12th century BCE). This empire had its own language, its own complex social hierarchy, a powerful army and a wealth of deities. These people were the Hittites.

But this powerful and well-organized empire suddenly collapsed around 1200 BCE and fell into oblivion…. What happened? How did the Hittites conquer such a vast territory? How did they govern their empire? What did their writing system look like? Which gods did they worship? Who won the Battle of Kadesh? And why did their empire fade into oblivion? Since their rediscovery a century ago, archeologists worldwide have been trying to piece together the Hittites’ story. Thanks to their recent discoveries, this once-great civilization is finally stepping out of the darkness…

In 2015, advances in archaeogenetics brought to light a previously unknown event: 5,000 years ago, nomads from the Pontic-Caspian steppe, the Yamnayas, swept across the European continent and radically transformed its culture and genome - to this day. So, what happened?

In just twenty generations, the Yamnaya became ancestors to much of today’s European population, contributing up to 50% of the DNA in places like Scandinavia and England. Their expansion also reached Central Asia and as far as northwest India. Long overlooked by history, the Yamnaya’ movement is now being studied through “The Yamnaya Impact on Prehistoric Europe” (YMPACT) led by archaeologist Volker Heyd. This international team of archaeologists, geneticists, linguists, and other specialists is using modern science (especially archaeogenetics) to understand what happened at the dawn of European civilization. Were the Yamnaya violent conquerors or peaceful migrants? Did they bring horses, new technologies, or even diseases? Could they be the forerunners of the Indo-European languages? These questions are finally being explored through a scientific lens, revealing one of the greatest transformations in European prehistory.

On August 24, 2024, Telegram CEO and tech billionaire Pavel Durov was arrested at Paris-Le Bourget airport, making headlines. The controversial Franco-Russian founder is still under investigation, which raises a key question that has long been posed by the EU: to what extent is a platform’s CEO accountable for the content users share on it? The case draws global attention, including from Silicon Valley.

The key question when it comes to Telegram and its mysterious founder is quite simple: is Pavel Durov a hero or a villain? Is Telegram some kind of refuge for extremists and propaganda messages? Or is it an advocate for free speech, privacy and dissidents? Telegram is often referred to as a messaging app, a social network or even a media, but no one is calling it what it actually is: a big disruptor of the offline rules. Just like Uber and Airbnb, only this time, for news sharing. In the age of digital firewalls, geopolitical tech wars, and massive antitrust fines, Telegram continues to operate as if we were still in the early stages of the Internet, back when it was a completely free system, defying borders and state control.

Everyone knows Dracula, but who knows that behind the vampire lies a 15th century Romanian prince? A notoriously bloodthirsty monster who served as a pivot between the Christian West and the Muslim East. To the point of being manipulated? Recent research takes us back to the origins of globalization, in a story that, from France to Italy, from Turkey to Austria and from England all the  way to Romania, echoes our contemporary concerns.

In June 1456, Halley’s Comet appeared in Europe and was seen as a bad omen. Everywhere on the planet, it was seen as the sign of an impending apocalypse. Everywhere that is, except in Transylvania. A prince named Vlad Dracula, used this celestial symbol to take over the throne of Wallachia by force. His reign, which was marked by betrayal and brutal executions, earned him the nickname Vlad the Impaler. His contemporaries often compared him to some of history’s greatest tyrants: Herod, Caligula and Nero. His legend inspired Bram Stoker’s vampire as well as Romanian dictator Ceaușescu who drew inspiration from him to claim his legacy. This story then elevated him to the status of a national hero in Romania. Where does the truth lie? Where does the myth begin? For many years, historians have been questioning the story of Vlad III also known as Prince Dracula. All across Europe, they have gathered documents and information about him and compiled them under the name “Corpus Draculianum”. Personal, diplomatic, and commercial correspondence; negotiation records; administrative document, narrative and iconographic sources; coins and official seals - these sources all tell the story of a prince whose fate rivals with that of a Shakespearian figure but above all, they place him at the heart of a major turning point in European history. He remains a symbolic figure for today politics.

PFAS are forever chemicals present in many everyday items, including Teflon which can be found in non-stick pans. These 'perennial pollutants' are carcinogenic and contaminate the air, drinking water and human organisms around the world. An investigation between Europe and the US highlighting the scale of this disaster and the emergency for collective European action against this global threat. 

It is the PFAS that prevent computers from catching fire when they are running. They form a water film capable of resisting fire in fire-fighting foams. The same ones we find in the ultra-resistant packaging of our food. No continent, no group of humans escapes them. In the US, 20 years ago, the courts forced PFAS-producing industries to pay for damage caused by their products. The lawyer who defends these industrialists promises them a scandal worse than tobacco and asbestos combined. But in Europe, civil society and public authorities are only now becoming aware of how big the problem actually is. In France, in response to the scandal, an ambitious law has just been passed in record time: it provides for a ban on certain PFAS and introduces the polluter pays principle for future industrial discharges of PFAS. But will this tax be enough to clean up the drinking water and soil that have already been contaminated for decades? According to researchers, every human being on the planet has PFAS running through their veins without knowing or being aware of the threat it poses. There are solutions that we need to implement so that we can continue drinking water from the tap or just breathe the air that is around us. The ambition of this film is both to give an idea of the global scale of this disaster, and to say that it is time for Europeans to oppose it together, rather than each country acting on its own.

The story of Christopher Columbus's arrival in the Americas is always portrayed the same: the explorer travelling in a caravel, planting the Christian cross one knee on the ground and meeting with a new people. By following Caribbean, European and American researchers as they investigate the remains that were left behind by Indigenous peoples, this archaeological and scientific the documentary sets out to destroy the myths that have persisted to this day. From Puerto Rico to Cuba, from Martinique all the way to French Guiana, this investigation takes us on an adventure to appreciate exceptional landscapes and make incredible discoveries following in the footsteps of the pre-Columbian Indigenous Caribbeans.

When Christopher Columbus landed on an island in the Bahamas in October 1492, he didn't just discover a new world, he also met a whole new people. He called them “Indians” and perceived some of them as “good savages” and others as “ferocious cannibals”. This documentary tells the story of how two different worlds met, and it does so through the eyes of the people of the West Indies. Rock paintings, ritual objects, bones and pottery shards tell a new narrative, quite different from the one that was passed down by European settlers. So, who were the pre-Columbian people of the West Indies? How did they meet the Europeans? And finally, did they really disappear, as is often claimed? To answer these questions, we will be unveiling archaeological sites and presenting new scientific experiments to try and learn more about this fascinating civilization.

In the 4th century, when the Roman Empire, weakened by barbarian invasions, was at its lowest, Constantine the Great decided to create a Christian Empire, and positioned his new capital, Constantinople, on Greek territory. The Eastern Roman Empire would go down in history as the Byzantine Empire, named after the colony, Byzantium, on which Constantinople was founded.

From 330, the date of Constantinople's foundation, to 1453, the date of the city's capture by the Ottomans, over a thousand years of conquests, ups and downs, were written the history of Byzantium, at once Roman, Christian and Greek, neither entirely Eastern nor entirely Western, straddling Antiquity and the Middle Ages.

Why does Vizier Weni the Elder, who lived some 4,300 years ago, have two tombs? And why did he refuse to be buried next to Pepi I Meryre, the divine figure who opened the gates to eternal life for him? As Egyptologists make the discovery of one of his tombs, they investigate this enigmatic figure and an era that was both a golden age for ancient Egypt and the beginning of its decline.

Recent discoveries suggest that profound political and religious changes were at work in Egypt during the time when the vizier became one of Egypt’s highest officials under Pepi I Meryre. Egyptologists from the Franco-Swiss archaeological mission to Saqqara are attempting to uncover important and magnificent remains from this golden age of Egyptian civilization, with their sights set on a mysterious tomb they believe to be that of Weni the Elder, a great figure and vizier during the reign of Pepi I Meryre. However, he already had his own tomb, which was discovered in 1860 by Auguste Mariette and his team, in the necropolis of Abydos, 400 km away from Saqqara, where he held high office until his death. It was here that his monumental biography was found, engraved in a three-meter-long limestone block: a famous biography which, when compared to inscribed blocks that were unearthed at Saqqara, led Philippe Collombert to think that it could be Weni the Elder.
 

Museums and monuments give visitors the opportunity to contemplate ancient Greek works in sparkling white. Yet science reveals what time has erased from the colossi to the facades of temples and statues: a profusion of gold and colors. With the help of new technologies and through experiments, researchers are trying, between controversy and amazement of the public, to tell us this other story in polychromy. 
 

In the nineteenth century, researchers in Italy, Egypt, and Greece rushed to excavate archaeological sites, often washing ancient artifacts and stripping away their original colors. This reflected a period mindset that ignored the vibrant polychromy of the past. Today, scientists challenge this long-standing misconception, seeking to reveal the colorful truth of ancient art. Although clues have surfaced over time, the full spectrum of these works remains elusive. Using advanced technologies, researchers now are looking to understand the significance, techniques, and use of pigments in historical civilizations. Through interdisciplinary efforts, they reconstruct the original appearance of sites like ancient Knossos and the Parthenon marbles, as well as iconic sculptures like the Venus de Milo. By bringing these "bleached" masterpieces back to life in 3D and color, they offer a new perspective on the past. This ongoing investigation puts the spotlight on the work of ancient painters and invites us to see history through new, vivid lenses. 

Researchers are delving into the grimoires of the brilliant medieval Arab civilization to find treatments for infectious diseases. Over a 1000 years ago, Arabic scientists initiated modern pharmacy by bringing together knowledge from ancient history and faraway lands, which they then experimented with and enriched.

To help invent the medicines of the future, a cross-disciplinary team has come up with an innovative approach: making something new out of something old! A microbiologist with a passion for history and a historian who was also trained to be a chemist, immersed themselves into old manuscripts from the medieval Arab world, which dated back to the year 1000, to unearth forgotten anti-infective treatments, replicate and test them in a lab. Using modern techniques, the team hopes to derive new antibiotics and thus contribute to the fight against antibiotic resistance, which is one of the greatest challenges that medicine is facing today. In following their quest, we uncover a fascinating and little-known period of history, between the 7th and 15th centuries, when a brilliant civilization stretched from Spain to the banks of the Indus. These two stories, though a millennium apart, are proof that the future can be rooted in a brilliant past, provided we can revive long-neglected knowledge.

This current-affairs documentary investigates right-wing terrorism and how it’s related to the political polarization across the Western World, through an ongoing investigation conducted by intelligence services and with testimonies from repentant former extremists.

Extreme right-wing terrorism is becoming an ever-bigger threat in Western societies. Since 2015, sixteen terror attacks have taken place in Europe. Far-right violent extremist groups are now the second most important threat after Islamic terrorism in Europe and white supremacism has become the greatest terrorism threat in the US. This risk has become even more present with the current crises that our societies are facing, such as the isolation related to COVID-19 or the war in Ukraine. This close-up investigation delves into the cases of previous terrorist attacks worldwide and gives voice to present and former far-right activists, victims, militants fighting ultra-right and antiterrorism officers. This film raises awareness on a growing threat which represents a critical challenge to our democracies and tries to understand the link between these acts of terrorism and the growing political polarization and the mainstreaming of extremist beliefs in contemporary societies.