Hidden Japan

The culture of Japan is incredible, from bloom festivals to ultra-modern cities. But there are also more than 130 mammals and 600 bird species dwelling in Japan’s 6,852 islands. This island chain is long enough to span climate zones, providing a huge range of habitat.

La Marche de l'empereur

Every year, thousands of Antarctica's emperor penguins make an astonishing journey to breed their young. They walk, marching day and night in single file 70 miles into the darkest, driest and coldest continent on Earth. This amazing, true-life tale is touched with humour and alive with thrills. Breathtaking photography captures the transcendent beauty and staggering drama of devoted parent penguins who, in the fierce polar winter, take turns guarding their egg and trekking to the ocean in search of food. Predators hunt them, storms lash them. But the safety of their adorable chicks makes it all worthwhile. So follow the leader... to adventure!!

Las Hurdes

An exploration —manipulated and staged— of life in Las Hurdes, in the province of Cáceres, in Extremadura, Spain, as it was in 1932. Insalubrity, misery and lack of opportunities provoke the emigration of young people and the solitude of those who remain in the desolation of one of the poorest and least developed Spanish regions at that time.

Simona

Ida, the grandniece of Simona Kossak, travels to the Bialowieza Forest at the Polish-Belarussian border. Sorting through the photos left by Lech Wilczek, Ida uncovers the life he had with Simona, captured in the photographs, footage and memories. A moving and powerful documentary about the life of Simona Kossak, a biologist, ecologist and activist known for her efforts to preserve the remnants of natural ecosystems in Poland and for living among the animals in the Białowieża Forest for over 30 years.

Des enfants et des arbres

Grizzly Man

Werner Herzog's documentary film about the "Grizzly Man" Timothy Treadwell and what the thirteen summers in a National Park in Alaska were like in one man's attempt to protect the grizzly bears. The film is full of unique images and a look into the spirit of a man who sacrificed himself for nature.

Snow Animals

Liz Bonnin introduces a cast of charismatic animals to reveal the remarkable strategies they use to survive, and even thrive, through the winter.

Opération Lune

A French documentary or, one might say more accurately, a mockumentary, by director William Karel which originally aired on Arte in 2002 with the title Opération Lune. The basic premise for the film is the theory that the television footage from the Apollo 11 Moon landing was faked and actually recorded in a studio by the CIA with help from director Stanley Kubrick.

Galapagos Suite

Galapagos Suite is a 17-minute compilation of 16 days sailing around the Galapagos archipelago aboard the Anahi catamaran. It seeks to encapsulate and capture the experience with intimate videography by Jim Lawrence and an original music score by Christian Jessup.

Bears

Filmmakers Alastair Fothergill and Keith Scholey chronicle a year in the lives of an Alaskan brown bear named Sky and her cubs, Scout and Amber. Their saga begins as the bears emerge from hibernation at the end of winter. As time passes, the bear family must work together to find food and stay safe from other predators, especially other bears. Although their world is exciting, it is also risky, and the cubs' survival hinges on family togetherness.

Renouer avec le vivant

The Hummingbird Effect

Costa Rica's motto is Pura Vida - Pure Life - and this deceptively small country is bursting with some of the most spectacular wildlife and pristine ecosystems in the world. All this diversity thrives, in part, thanks to one surprising little creature: hummingbirds. Venture across Costa Rica's wild and rugged landscapes, from volcanic peaks to coastal jungle to misty cloud forests and discover the nation's dazzling diversity of hummingbirds. Watch how these tiny birds play an outsize role in maintaining some of the richest and wildest environments on Earth, where a whole community of creatures, such as macaws and monkeys, enjoys The Hummingbird Effect.

3D Kleine Monster - Täuschen & Tarnen

Little Monsters presents some of the animal kingdom’s strangest survival strategies: poison dart frogs, chameleons, praying mantises and scorpions, to name but a few. Thanks to 3D visualization, large audiences can experience a chameleon thrusting out its tongue at close range, rattlesnakes striking at their targets to within fractions of an inch, praying mantises hunting and hummingbirds feeding, filmed from inside the flower! And with its ingenious combination of slow-motion 3D and timelapse 3D, “Little Monsters” even improves upon state of the art 3D for greater impact, yielding unbelievable scenes the world has never seen and “felt” before.

Gunda

A glimpse into the raw and simple power of nature through encounters with farm animals: the eponymous Gunda, a mother pig; two cows, and a one-legged chicken.

The Most Unknown

An epic documentary film that sends nine scientists to extraordinary parts of the world to uncover unexpected answers to some of humanity’s biggest questions. How did life begin? What is time? What is consciousness? How much do we really know? By introducing researchers from diverse backgrounds for the first time, then dropping them into new, immersive field work they previously hadn’t tackled, the film pushes the boundaries of how science storytelling is approached. What emerges is a deeply human trip to the foundations of discovery and a powerful reminder that the unanswered questions are the most crucial ones to pose. Directed by Emmy-nominated and Peabody Award-winning filmmaker Ian Cheney and advised by world-renowned filmmaker Werner Herzog, The Most Unknown is an ambitious look at a side of science never before shown on screen.

Wow

In this French Canadian film, the lives of teenagers are examined in fantasy sequences and through the use of documentary interviews. Prompted by the filmmaker, nine teenagers individually act out their secret dreams and, between times, talk about their world as they see it. The fantasy sequences make creative use of animation, unusual film-development techniques, and stills. Babette conceives of herself as an abbess defending her fortress, a convent; Michelle is transported in a dream of love where all time ceases; Philippe is the revolutionary, defeating all the institutions that plague him, and so on, through all their fantasies. All the actual preoccupations of youth are raised: authority, drugs, social conflict, sex. Jutra's style in "Wow" exhibits his innovative approach to storytelling and filmmaking, showcasing his talents as a director during that period. With English subtitles.

Spiders on a Web

Consisting of a single shot, Spiders on a Web is one of the earliest British examples of close-up natural history photography. Made by one of the pioneers of the British film industry, G.A. Smith, this short film details spiders trapped in an enclosure, and despite the title, does not actually feature a web.

Jesus Camp

Jesus Camp is a Christian summer camp where children hone their "prophetic gifts" and are schooled in how to "take back America for Christ". The film is a first-ever look into an intense training ground that recruits born-again Christian children to become an active part of America's political future.

An Inconvenient Truth

A documentary on Al Gore's campaign to make the issue of global warming a recognized problem worldwide.

The Cat Rescuers

More than half a million feral cats prowl the streets of New York City, struggling to survive each day. With no official policies in place to aid the abandoned animals or curb their growing population, animal welfare activists enter the breach. The Cat Rescuers follows four dedicated, street-smart volunteers working tirelessly in Brooklyn to help save as many felines in need as possible, no matter the personal sacrifices they must make.