Impossible Roads

On an icy track in the Kyrgyz highlands, an old van sets off…. Driving Kuban and Duisheu. In extreme climatic conditions, it delivers the “fruits of happiness” to the most isolated villages in the region.

In Katanga many people are waiting for a train named after a bird, the “Swallow”. More than 2000 people, three times the train’s capacity, are squeezing in the carriages. Conditions are precarious in the “Swallow”, which crosses the whole country in more than a week, stopping in several villages. But 1600km are difficult for this 50 year old bird. The rails aren’t well maintained, accidents are frequent and the journey is risky especially for those who choose to travel on the top of the train.

In the south of China, in the mountainous province of Guizhou, thousands of truckers daily use very dangerous roads, risking their lives, in order to transport the local resources present in abundance: coal and bamboo. Then begins a real race against time...

Cinq ans après le séisme qui a frappé Port-au-Prince et ses environs, seules des pistes en terre permettent d'acheminer hommes et marchandises.

It is difficult to locate Suriname on a map. However, it is not an imaginary country. Suriname is at the heart of the Amazon. A jungle country. 163,000 square km, the sixth of France covered with virgin forests.

We are in the Quan Hoa mountains in the Northwest of Vietnam. It is one of the poorest and most isolated regions in the country. Here, most of the inhabitants live on less than a dollar a day. However, this province possesses an inexhaustible treasure: bamboo. Or as the Vietnamese refer to it “green gold”. Some of this bamboo is transported on rafts… Makeshift crafts, assembled in just a few hours, are sent down the twists and turns of the tumultuous river Luong.

In Peru, David is leaving for the Amazon to gather wood to make a living for his family. But along the steep and dilapidated road, he is caught in the climactic phenomenon born from global warming, which they call “El Ninio” causing torrential rain and landslides and putting David’s life in immense danger.

Cameroon's bravest drivers are called "Clandos", for illegal immigrants. They are illegal taxis and they are the only ones to agree to circulate on the entire Cameroonian road network, one of the worst on the African continent.