In 1926, Buster Keaton was at the peak of his glory and wealth. By 1933, he had reached rock bottom. How, in the space of a few years, did this uncontested genius of silent films, go from the status of being a widely-worshipped star to an alcoholic and solitary fallen idol? With a spotlight on the...
The link between heart disease and blood cholesterol is a medical dogma that has existed for the past fifty years and has led to the development of a billion-dollar, low-fat, food industry, as well as to statins, a drug that lower “bad cholesterol” levels, so it has became one of the most...
She became famous at a very young age and gradually slipped away, cultivating her legend and her mystery. Kate Bush, pioneering artist, is at the heart of a captivating documentary broadcast on Arte.
England, 1960. The Crown sues the publisher Penguin Books in order to ban the publication of Lady Chatterley's Lover, a novel by the British writer D. H. Lawrence (1885-1930), published privately in Italy in 1928, which celebrates nature and deals with sex without taboos.
Between September 2012 and May 2013, France is debating the upcoming marriage equality laws. During those nine months, sociologist Irène Théry talks about what is at stake with her son Mathias Théry, who will make a movie with Étienne Chaillou out of those hours of conversations. It is a...
Bastien is twenty years old and has been an activist for five years in the main extreme right party. When the presidential campaign begins, he's invited by his superior to commit even further. Initiated into the art of decking himself out like a politician, he starts to dream of a career, but old...
One day, in Savigny, an 18-year-old boy left his house in the middle of the war, saying: "I'm leaving, I'm going to kill Hitler." His name was Joseph, he was Jewish, he was my great-uncle. He disappeared during the night of the Occupation, and his existence became a family secret. He disappeared...
They are just 20 years old and are fighting against the Islamic State in the Syrian Kurdish regions. In a region of the world where women normally have to walk three steps behind men, the fact that they are under arms together with their brothers is of particular significance. Their colorful...
Ever since David Lean came here to shoot parts of Lawrence of Arabia, the Moroccan desert of Ouarzazate has formed the backdrop to countless Hollywood blockbusters, including The Mummy and Gladiator. Major productions like these often need masses of extras—and the local people are all too willing...
Between 2013 and 2015, three princes became the leaders of the Persian Gulf's main oil monarchies: Qatar, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates. This new generation of sovereigns, some of the richest and most powerful on the planet, has imposed a new way to govern, between violence, repression...
The recent democratic revolutions throughout Eastern Europe—Serbia in 2000, Georgia in 2003, and the Ukraine in 2004—all seemed to follow a quick and easy pattern: the exposure of rigged elections, followed by massive street protests, and a regime that collapsed without a fight. But THE...
It's a subject we don't talk about. And yet, throughout the world, our toilets are undergoing a revolution unparalleled since the 19th century. Bill Gates is investing hundreds of millions of dollars to develop new types of toilet. India is installing millions of latrines so that no-one defecates...
The abusive harvest of a simple fruit built an empire: the United Fruit Company. A fruit that conquered the markets of the world, but devastated Central America. The amazing story of the banana: pioneers of globalized capitalism, dictators of banana republics, revolutionaries, the inventor of...
1945, the war is over. Defeated Germany is divided into four zones of occupation by the Allies. The French obtain the Palatinate, with Baden-Baden as its capital. Hansgerd Schulte, aged 12 when the French arrived, Jean and Colette Nurdin, teachers sent to a country in ruins, and philosopher and...
Olmany, Terebejov, Gorodnaïa: Three villages in the Stolyn district, Belarus, 200 kilometers from Chernobyl. In this area, the radiation rate was considered too low to justify the systematic evacuation of the population. Sixteen years after the disaster, life continues in a seemingly unchanged...
