Social issues / Human interest

Strong, Beautiful & Healthy !

From powerful biceps to impressive muscles - a must-have for everyone? In ancient times, a trained, muscular body was purely a man's thing. Nowadays, it is considered an essential prerequisite for a healthy, long life for everyone. From world-famous fitness icons such as Arnold Schwarzenegger, Jack LaLanne, Joseph Pilates, Pudgey Stockton to bodybuilders from the GDR we have learned that the current craze for strength training has always been a topic of interest and discussion in the 20th century. And that muscular bodies can be as healthy as they are attractive. So put on your sports gear and get ready to sweat!

ASTRID

Astrid is the name behind a story of misfortune and a life-changing incident. The protagonist of this documentary lived a quiet and humble life until a near fatal accident led to the amputation of her right foot. After countless tests and many obstacles, Astrid has come out on the other side holding a Paralympic medal to show for all her effort. This story speaks of the emotional and professional journey, which inevitably and completely transforms a person to the point where Astrid is a different person from who she was in the beginning. The accident, the 13 surgeries that followed, the decision to amputate, getting up and walking again, pushing through the frustration of the first and disastrous descents and the larger than life effort to improve, to get back up and keep going. This is Astrid.  A story, another story, and not for that matter less exciting and frenetic, that shows us that what matters is not so much where we begin or where we are going, but what happens to us on this journey and what we do with it, along with everything we live through from one moment to another. On one end we have a broken young woman and on the other, a champion on the floor crying with emotion for having won a Paralympic Games. "Winner of best documentary feature film " at the Outdocs film in China "Public choice award" at the We Cam Fest in Colombia “Best sport documentary” at the BKK DOC in Thailand “Best documentary” at the Inclús Film Festival in Spain "Special Mention" at the Buenos Aires Indies Festival in Argentine

William Christie, The art of giving

American, William Christie is one of the great ambassadors of French culture and the French way of “feeling art”, as he likes to say. His career as a harpsichordist, conductor, musicologist and teacher remains closely linked to France. It is at the origin of a remarkable musical adventure: his rediscovery of baroque music. This film seeks to give voice to one man’s unique point of view and to lift the veil on the path of this enormous talent, who is as lucid and charming as he is inaccessible.

The rope epidemic

Since the 2000s, several waves of suicides have followed one another in the Amerindian population of the Colombian Amazon. Men kill themselves out of love because their wives leave them for "white people." The whites think that the Indian does not feel anything because they do not express themselves like them. And, because in their native language, there are no words to designate the feelings. Is it possible that a whole people, the Cácuas Indians, feel nothing, have no feeling and no words to speak of love?

The Queen of Paris

A week in the life of Clement/Veronika. In the day, the young man works at a biology lab but at night, his shining alter-ego Veronika Von Lear takes the lead. As a 30-year-old, he is not one to renounce and cheerfully lives his life and desires.

The weight of the Antarctic

Located on the coast of Adélie Land, the Cap Prud'homme science base is like a little world outside our world that houses a few dozen people during the austral summer. Scientists, logisticians, mechanics, a cook and doctor form a small society whose common project is to advance science. Vincent is a glaciologist, he has been part of this community for ten years. This documentary will follow him in his activities and try to identify the strengths, beauty and fragility of the commitment of these men who live at the end of the world.

GOLDEN VOICE

Golden Voice tells the story of Jean-François Marras, a young Corsican man who became a tenor at the Paris Opera at the age of twenty-six when nothing in his life predisposed him to his artistic career. On the contrary. This film reveals the events that transformed his life and forged his destiny. We voyage back with him to his roots in Corsica, land of his origins, then off to New York where he perfects his technique and prepares his future. The film is an initiatory journey that explores family, traditions, talent, and the grace of having a great gift and then struggling to reveal it. At that moment, no limits exist. This golden voice is on track to conquer America.

First steps at the Opera

They are singers, musicians and directors. They are between twenty and thirty years old. They have been chosen for their excellence and start their residency at the Academy of the Paris Opera. Culture and music are their trump cards and their strength. They embody both diversity and living together, but also a new generation of committed artists. They talk Mozart, Puccini, Verdi… via Skype and their cell phones. They are the world and the talents of tomorrow. Along with them, throughout an entire season, we discover the mysterious world of the Opera and make it accessible to all. We keep pace with their apprenticeship, their art, their doubts and hopes until they take their first steps on the stages of the Bastille or the Garnier Opera houses. This film is their story.

Maids: Docile and Invisible, a Story on Domestic Worker

In the Philippines, a country which prides itself as an "exporter of labor", thousands of women on a daily basis leave their families to work abroad as domestic help. However, with no unions or laws to protect them, they get the raw end of the deal, often mistreated and made to live in inhuman conditions. In worse-case scenarios, they face severe physical, sexual and mental abuse. Only a fraction of women approach NGOs and that too as a last resort. With no help coming from the international community, life continues to be a living hell for these modern-day slaves.

Fukushima

On March 11 2011, after a magnitude 9 earthquake, a giant tsunami  destroyed most of the north eastern japanese coast, killing almost 20,000 people. But the natural disaster also killed the japanese's people trust in their government and institutions. A few days after the tsunami, the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power station, crippled by the giant wave, started to explode. A terrible and highly radioactive nuclear cloud was released in the atmosphere. But three years after the disaster, the scary truth surfaces little by little.. And the world biggest fears have become reality. A study is showing that more and more fukushima kids have grown thyroid cysts and nodules... And that maybe, a thyroid cancer explosion is appearing. But the japanese authorities (government or TEPCO) are having a hard time acknowledging the real consequences of the disaster. So something amazing is happening in Japan.  Private citizens, investigative reporters, independent doctors have decided to take matters into their own hands, and to fight against silence and lies. But are those human and environnemental damages only dramatic for Japan? Radioactive particles have crossed borders, transported by air and water. On the west coast of the United States, some fish caught in the Pacific also bear traces of contamination. In Europe, concern focuses on products imported from Japan. In France and Switzerland, numerous tests are frequently conducted to ensure that radioactive food does not enter the market. But last october the first fish with traces of cesiun 137 and 134 was found in Switzerland.. Who are these sick children? What is the real extent of the contamination - for humans and the environment? Why does the Japanese government refuse transparency? Who are these citizens, journalists, or doctors from Japan, the US and  Europe who are fighting for the truth to be known? Investigation into a nuclear scandal...

Sainte Jeanne of Lestonnac - Or die or act

Jeanne de Lestonnac (1556-1640), member of the XVIth Century French nobility, niece of famous Humanist writer Michel de Montaigne and mother of five, one day decided to give it all up and fulfill the dream of her youth. She became the founder of the first female religious order devoted to education to be approved by the Church. For more than 4 hundred years her work has been spreading across the whole world. This film compares the life of Jeanne de Lestonnac and her founding ideas of the XVIIth Century with the current reality of the work of the Company of Mary Our Lady in various parts of the world. The film offers journeys. The first is a journey across time. We travel to meet Jeanne de Lestonnac by learning her story and revisiting the places that marked her life. The others are journeys across the world. Journeys to the different realities reached by this founding spirit from Bordeaux over four centuries, where it adapted and put down roots; where reality was transformed. Japan, Colombia and the Democratic Republic of Congo are the destinations we discover during this film.

Body Language

We communicate more with our body language than our words. Did you know that human expressions are the same across the world? Scientists, having known this fact, are building tools to decipher not only our thoughts and emotions but also our intentions. They have made significant progress in utilizing these tools for market research, helping kids with cognitive development and even in predicting suspicious behavior. Can they use these tools to recognize violent intent in people and prevent terrorist attacks?