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An underwater jewel stretches along northeast Australia. The Great Barrier Reef. Nestled within a maze of mangroves, islands and reefs, it houses some of the planet’s richest and most diverse forms of marine life. Each creature plays its part while sharks, saltwater crocodiles, snakes and jellyfish keep watch.  They are the silent guardians of a balance which is as beautiful as it is fragile. From the top of the food chain these predators conduct the orchestra of life.  But their power can’t protect them in a faltering world. An insidious threat rumbles; the climate compass is going off course. Wild lands are crumbling, gradually succumbing to human attacks. Boundaries blur, and the two worlds collide… and sometimes clash. The rules are being rewritten to the rhythm of this new disorder. But researchers know that ecosystems are unstable without their predators. So how can we coexist with them? How can we create a shared life, where everyone still has their place?

The Great Barrier Reef, one of the seven natural wonders of the world, is home to some of the most breathtaking life forms on the planet. Ravaged by the effects of climate change, some believe all hope is lost. Yet others, driven by courage and determination, are working tirelessly to find ingenious and practical solutions. This is the case for marine biologist Richard Fitzpatrick and his teams, who are dedicated to saving the Great Barrier Reef by implementing innovative scientific protocols to restore damaged coral. Stepping out of their labs, these field scientists show what imagination, science, and action can achieve.

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.

She is the first female politician to become Italy's prime minister, but more importantly, the first far-right leader since 1945 to head a major European democracy. To shed light on the political phenomenon embodied by Giorgia Meloni, we need to retrace her political career and go back to where it all started: Colle Oppio (Oppian Hill), a section of the neo-fascist MSI party she joined when she was a young activist.

Housed in an ancient ruin on the Oppian Hill near the Colosseum, the section works as a tight-knit group bound by the ideals found in Tolkien’s The Lord of the Rings, a book they hold sacred. This small group of activists known as the Gabbiani, whom she met in the early 1990s, has stood by her since the beginning of her career in politics. They are now her closest confidants, helping her head Italy. This historical investigation tells the story of how this community rose to power, profiling its key members and revealing how political decisions are made, caught between normalization of the far right and loyalty to the group’s founding values. The documentary also explores Meloni's dilemma: cooperating with European institutions or aligning with Donald Trump, who sees her as a strategic ally in building a so-called ‘reactionary international’.
 

Stopping the next pandemic is a new challenge to the most prominent scientists. Their field studies around the world are showing that our health as humans depends on animal and environmental health. Diseases that occur in the remotest places are now our concern. We live in a connected world. We will have to preserve the environment to prevent future pandemics.

A new infectious disease emerges every four months on average worldwide. Ebola, Zika, bird flu, swine flu, Lyme disease, monkey pox... Three quarters of these infections originate from an animal reservoir.
 
Scientists around the world are identifying viruses and bacteria in the field that could become dangerous to humans and they are tracking their movements to prevent or slow the next pandemic.
 
But today, these researchers are sounding the alarm. For them, human behavior is fully responsible for the emergence of new diseases. By subjugating nature, man is altering ecosystems and causes epidemics to emerge in previously inaccessible territories. By provoking the extinction of species and by producing and consuming animal proteins at an unprecedented level, humans are destroying the biodiversity that protects against certain diseases. By deforesting the planet, turning forests into farmland, urbanizing the natural habitat of thousands of species, building roads in the middle of the Amazon rainforest, consuming bushmeat and mining for gold, humans are multiplying their interactions with wildlife. This is favoring the transmission of diseases that were previously considered unlikely. With 10 billion people expected by the end of the century, our impact on the planet is tipping us into an era of pandemics.
 
Nevertheless, solutions do exist, scientists explain. It is time to put biodiversity back at the center of our agenda and consider that human, animal and environmental health are interdependent. Change our way of life, to protect mankind...

Coups, dictatorships, revolutions, civil wars... For decades, Latin America has been a testing ground for a world marked by violent inequalities and growing polarization.

In six emblematic countries - Brazil, Chile, Panama, Nicaragua, Venezuela, and Colombia - men and women share their struggles. They recount the tragedy of a fractured continent, constantly subjected to interventions from its powerful neighbor, the United States. They are former ministers, opposition figures, secret service agents, torture survivors, guerrilla fighters, lawyers, investigative journalists, diplomats, police chiefs... They have shaped history. Through their words, we relive this historical saga in both its political and human dimensions.

China’s rise as a superpower started during the Cold War. From 1945 onward, Beijing expanded its influence across both Southeast Asia and Africa, clashed with the U.S. in bloody wars and nearly went to nuclear war with the USSR. By playing the East and the West against each other, China came out stronger after 1989 - rejecting Western values while becoming the world’s factory. By taking advantage of this three-part narrative, China has strategically positioned itself to dominate the 21st century.

Feared by both the Americans and the Soviets, Communist China has been one of the major players of global history since 1949. Though often overlooked, its demographic scale, military power, and ideological ambition – along with its post-Bandung leadership of the ‘Third World’ - forced the world to look at it. Although it served at times as adversary, ally, or mediator between the two superpowers, China did not hesitate to abandon rigid communism in order to align itself more closely with the United States and with their help, launched its economic transformation. And it was after 1989 that China as we know it today came into being. Opposing the victory of “Western values,” it therefore rejected any challenge to its political regime while becoming the world’s largest factory. To take a fresh look at the history of the second half of the 20th century through China's perspective is to gain insight into why and how the Middle Kingdom has transformed itself since the early 2000s into a sprawling empire.

Every week, ARTE Reports reviews in images the events that made the headlines. Documentaries on important issues around the world, from human rights to the outcomes of elections.

Our brain constantly simplifies reality, opening the door to false logical thought patterns called cognitive biases. These intuitive mechanisms create errors of judgment that affect individual and societal behaviors marketing loves to play with, thus giving birth to fake news.

There is a multitude of biases anchored deep in our brain that leads to errors of perception, evaluation, interpretation... Originally, their function is to allow our brain to save time and energy by developing mental shortcuts. They also facilitate our sociability. In the complexity of our modern world though, this cerebral trick sometimes turns against us, and certain ancestral mechanisms are no longer adapted to the reality of our daily life. Marketing and advertising never stop playing with them; swindlers exploit them for their own benefit; fake news are spread thanks to them. Thus, a better understanding of how it works is a real individual and societal challenge.

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.

At a time when environmental issues are forcing us to rethink our production methods, craftsmanship stands as a bulwark. Around the world, men and women preserve ancestral skills that offer alternative ways of producing - proving that we can transform nature without destroying it.

Destinations : Nepal, Indonesia, Japan, Uganda, Brazil,  Mexico

Discover a stunning new collection of live performances featuring iconic artists across genres—from classical greats to contemporary pop legends.
 From Air’s concert at London’s Royal Albert Hall to Mozart's Requiem being performed at the Palace of Versailles, each concert is a unique experience. Enjoy great music from all over the world and step into unforgettable places!
 
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Every week, ARTE Reports reviews in images the events that made the headlines. Documentaries on important issues around the world, from human rights to the outcomes of elections.