Detroit in the US Rust Belt and Bochum in Germany’s industrial Ruhr region – as different as these two cities may be, both have been significantly shaped by the automotive industry. Following the end of the industrial age, these regions are undergoing fundamental changes and the people on both sides of the Atlantic are in search of a new identity.
Friend or foe? In less than half a second, our brains form an opinion about a person based on their expressions and voice. But AI technology can also interpret our emotions, health and personality more and more accurately on the basis of increasing volumes of data. This film offers us an insight into the latest scientific findings.
Our oceans are drowning in plastic. Much of this waste ends up in the sea via rivers, including European rivers. This is the sad conclusion film-maker Steffen Krones comes to when he discovers waste from Germany on Norway’s Lofoten Islands. To find out more, Steffen and a friend build a GPS buoy to follow the waste’s journey all the way to the Arctic.
Since the pandemic brought international tourism to a standstill, one thing is for sure: too much travel is bad for the environment. Our desire to travel remains unbroken. But do travellers have to decide between the extremes: the appeal of the exotic and holidays at home? How do tourism-plagued cities envisage their future? And what are the alternatives – will we only be able to travel virtually?
In 2021, the online encyclopaedia Wikipedia celebrates its 20th anniversary. We take a look at the structure of this virtual giant. Who are its creators, who are the authors who write up to 12,000 articles every day? Are they representative of the knowledge of this world and will they soon be superseded by artificial intelligence?
Fond memories, true love and bizarre anecdotes combined with unique archive footage make this film a fascinating study of socialist car culture past and present. What did it mean to own a motor car in the East? Classic car enthusiasts from all over Europe tell fascinating stories about their “dearest companion”.
A fact-finding film about investigators, victims and members of the Nigerian mafia. Thanks to exclusive access to wire-tapped conversations and witness statements, the film exposes the structure of this dangerous network which is spreading further across Europe. We accompany a public prosecutor, policeman, survivor and social worker in their campaign against organised crime.
Ireland’s sparsely populated island of Tory lacks infrastructure and economic opportunities. When their only ferry connection to the mainland is about to be replaced by a smaller boat service, the islanders’ solidarity is put to the test. Will families have to move away? Or will they succeed in preserving their life on the island?
One year into his life in the refugee camp of Moria in Greece, Afghan filmmaker Talib Shah finds himself on the verge of losing hope. But instead of giving up, he decides to make a film. It is an insider’s look at the lives of thousands of refugees stuck in the camp, a place often described as a humanitarian disaster.
The social behaviour of chimpanzees and bonobos is similar to that of humans in many ways. Today we know that chimpanzees can feel compassion, wage war and reconcile afterwards. Can studying them shed light on the origins of human emotions? In this film, international behavioural scientists provide insights into this fascinating field of research.
Indonesia is the second largest seaweed producer in the world. But climate change and pollution are making farming increasingly difficult for traditional family businesses. Since the start of the pandemic, however, the seaweed sector has experienced a revival because tourists are staying away and islanders are rediscovering the miracle plant.
In 2004, European citizen Khaled El Masri was illegally abducted by the CIA and taken to a secret prison near Kabul. His case brought the CIA’s worldwide so called “rendition program”, whose agents were forcibly taking suspected terrorists to secret locations and torturing them, to light. In this political thriller we tell his story for the first time.
