ARTE Documentaries

Over the recent years, a small but growing group of researchers from Austria, Germany, Italy, UK, Japan, South Africa and the USA, has developed a new scientific field of research: the neurobiology of plants. Their discoveries question the traditional boundaries set between the animal and the vegetable kingdom: plants are capable to develop the cognitive process claimed by humans and animals. If plants can move, and feel... Could they possibly think ? In a creative and captivating scientific investigation style, through spectacular specialist photography and CGI, and re-creating scientific experiments, this documentary is bound to change your own perception of plants.

En juin 2002, l’armée israélienne a entrepris la construction d’une « barrière de sécurité », destinée à prévenir les attaques terroristes. Elle encercle aujourd’hui la quasi-totalité de la Cisjordanie. Cette clôture de plus 300 kilomètres de béton et de ferraille, bourrés de capteurs électroniques et de caméras, a détruit en quelques mois les liens traditionnels qui unissaient les populations arabes vivant dans la région. Pour elles, ce mur est une tragédie, un mur de séparation. En 2002, Hubert Dubois avait filmé pour ARTE Reportage, les prémices de ce drame auprès d’une famille arabe israélienne, les Rifaï. Ils vivent à Salem, en Israël. Juste en bas de leur maison les bulldozers arrachaient les oliviers pour tracer les premiers tronçons du mur. En face, à trois kilomètres, se trouve le village de Rumané en Cisjordanie où habite l’autre partie de la famille. A l’époque, on allait chez les uns et les autres pratiquement tous les jours, on vivait ensemble, avec ou sans la nationalité israélienne. Sept ans plus tard nous retrouvons les Rifaï, désormais séparés par la clôture.

More than any other historical documents, It is the personal private letters written by a people to "their" dictator that provide the most intimate glimpses of the history of the Third Reich. A treasure of more than 100,000 such letters were recently found, hidden in a secret Russian archive. The uncensored letters reveal the true feelings of the German people - their hopes, longings and fears; also love letters, declarations of loyalty, birthday wishes and the occasional word of protest. Like a seismograph, it mirrors the change in mood in Nazi Germany, providing a reflection of the German spirit in the years from 1932 to 1945.

Pourquoi le tigre Broken Tail a-t-il quitté la réserve naturelle de Ranthambore, en Inde, pour trouver la mort 300 kilomètres plus loin sous les roues d'un train? Un périple à la découverte de félins particulièrement menacés et à la rencontre des habitants du Rajasthan.

The archaeological ruins in Libya, mainly Roman, are truly exceptional because of their size and preservation. Beyond its archaeological dimensions, Leptis Magna symbolizes the myth of Rome more than any other site. Similar to the American myth, Septimus Severus the African showed that every citizen of Rome could become Emperor and develop the civilization even in the desert. In the 3rd Century AD, the Roman Emperor Septimus Severus, known as "the African" because he was born in Leptis Magna, turned the ancient Cathaginian trading center into a metropolis of 300,000 inhabitants. It was the third largest in the Empire, but soon was abandoned to the desert and lay covered in sand until its discovery in the 20th Century. The excellent condition and beauty of the excavated sites conjures a vision of what the city must have been like 1700 years ago.

While the world knows of the KGB spies and agents who crossed over to the West, few know of this tale of secret dissention from within. There is one officer, Viktor Orekhov, who went from repression of dissidents to joining their cause. After months and months of searching, the filmmaker tracked down Orekhov and now brings his story to the world. Illustrated with the unique testimonies of Viktor Orekhov, now 65, archives and accurately re-enacted sequences, the documentary tells the story of a man who braved an impenetrable system and dared to challenge the KGB.