July 17, 2026 | In 1938 and 1939, Britain stood at the edge of catastrophe. As Hitler escalated his demands, the policy of appeasement began to collapse, the monarchy faced crisis, and the country was forced to confront the growing certainty of war. Through newly colorized archive footage, this documentary follows the final months of peace as Britain moved from hesitation and compromise to emergency preparation.
From the Munich Agreement and the destruction of Czechoslovakia to gas masks, evacuation plans, Kindertransport, and the trauma already unfolding across Europe, this film captures the tense final countdown before the outbreak of World War II.
Documentary: Limonero Avod: Thirties In Colour: Countdown To War EP:3
Directed by Alison Grist
Production: Make Waves Media (2019)
Nov 18, 2023 | Accepting one’s homosexuality for an American today ought to be simple? And yet, it is not so straightforward! 700,000 young people in the United States have already undergone so-called conversion therapies, intended to "cure" their homosexuality.
Run by religious or pseudo-scientific communities, these therapies promise to fix a supposedly "deviant sexual orientation" and to change a person’s inner identity. Through social, familial, and religious pressure, Mathew, Jordan and Lucas all signed up for these therapies and went through hell: Isolation, sequestration, humiliation, food deprivation, physical and psychological violence.
Today, a political combat is underway to halt these therapies and to acknowledge the victims. This is likely to be a long process, given that such practices are still allowed in 41 states and have the backing of the Trump administration.
Documentary: YOU'LL BE STRAIGHT
Directed by Caroline Benarrosh
Production: Tohubohu for France Télévisions
Jun 13, 2026 | Natural selection predisposes us to heterosexuality and reproduction. A portion of the population thinks this is a choice or a decision. But not only. Since several years science interrogates the roots of sexual orientation, homo and hetero. Have we really a choice?
The spectacular advances in research on the human genome, coupled with recent studies on the effects of hormones on behavior, upsets conventional viewpoints on our sexual behaviors, and control of them by our brain. Science has discovered quite recently that biological factors are themselves influenced by the environment, and individual history. This is new and fundamental scientific data.
This document brings new light on the diversity of sexual behaviors, which are not specifically human, since some 450 animal species have been identified as being at least partially bisexual.
Homosexuality is not the mental illness of yesterday, nor the genetic defect of tomorrow; it is simply a natural variant of one of our basic biological characteristics, our sexual orientation.
Documentary: Gay or Straight, Is It a Choice? (2014)
Directed by Thierry Berrod
Production: Mona Lisa Productions
July 5, 2026 | In 1565, Suleiman the Magnificent sent one of the most powerful armadas of the age against Malta, a small but strategic Christian stronghold at the center of the Mediterranean struggle between the Ottoman Empire and Habsburg Europe. Facing tens of thousands of Ottoman and Barbary troops, the island’s defenders, including the Knights Hospitaller and Maltese fighters, prepared for a siege that would test the limits of fortification, faith, and endurance.
From Fort Saint Elmo to the twin cities of Birgu and Senglea, this documentary follows the Great Siege of Malta as a clash of empires, religions, and military systems.
Documentary: Besieged Fortress EP:4 The Siege Of Malta Directed by: Marion Vaqué-Marti
Production: ZED (2022)
April 5, 2026 | When Nazi Germany occupied Paris in 1940, the city’s monuments, hotels, theaters, and public spaces became symbols of domination.
But behind that façade, acts of defiance began to spread, from quiet sabotage and clandestine meetings to student protests, underground networks, and the uprising that helped liberate the capital.
Documentary: Paris Monuments: Defying The Nazis
Directed by: Fabrice d’Almeida
Production: ADLTV, RMC Decouverte, France 3 Ile-de-France, France 3 Normandie
Dec 8, 2024 | This is the story of a man with two faces. The timid Doctor Bashar, who has long seduced the West and promised to move his country towards more democracy. And the terrible Mister Assad, dictator, who fights his own people in a civil war with hundreds of thousands of victims.
The terrible Mister Assad, dictator who fights his own people Thanks to the testimonies of his relatives and former executives of the regime, the film tells the rise of a man who was not supposed to be president, and deciphers a system that resembles that of the Mafia. With its godfathers, its settling of scores, and its billions in dirty money. Bashar El-Assad received Syria as an inheritance from his father, Hafez El-Assad. He is the one who built this iron dictatorship that has held the country for nearly 50 years. The film also explores the passionate ties that unite France and Syria. Leading French political figures, former ministers and diplomats, take us behind the scenes of this tumultuous relationship. A relationship that the story of Bashar El-Assad perfectly symbolises. French presidents Jacques Chirac and then Nicolas Sarkozy initially considered him a valuable ally and rolled out the red carpet for him. Before bitterly regretting it.
July 3, 2026 | Oysters from Cancale, foie gras, great Burgundy wines, chocolate, sauces, and royal desserts: this documentary explores how the tables of French kings helped shape the history of gastronomy. From Louis XIV’s appetite for oysters to Louis XV’s passion for gardens, hunting and cooking, from Marie Antoinette’s taste for chocolate to Napoleon’s attachment to Gevrey-Chambertin, food becomes a way of reading power, taste, ritual and prestige in French history.
Apr 10, 2021 | Female homosexuality in the early 20th century was culturally unacceptable. The way society perceived lesbianism throughout history has changed drastically.
Watch Myths About Lesbians to see how 'being a lesbian' has developed in society.
Jun 28, 2025 | Long before television became a household staple in the 1950s, Nazi Germany was already experimenting with live broadcasts and state-controlled programming. From news reports and entertainment shows to propaganda and speeches, the Third Reich built one of the world's earliest television networks. Thanks to newly uncovered archives, this documentary reveals a forgotten chapter in media history and offers a rare glimpse into everyday television under Hitler's regime.
Documentary: Television Under the Swastika*
Directed by Michael Kloft
Production: Spiegel TV (1999)
FYI: The original, Das Fernsehen unter dem Hakenkreuz, was in German.
Jun 25, 2026 | Islam in Spain and the unfinished history still dividing the country is the subject of our latest Beyond Borders documentary. Who owns the legacy of Al-Andalus, and what does it mean for Spain's identity today and tomorrow?
From the Alhambra and Nasrid Palaces of Granada to the ancient mosques of Algeciras, as the far-right VOX party bans Arabic in schools, Spanish converts rebuild Muslim communities, and engineers restore thousand-year-old Moorish water channels to fight the climate crisis. Spain isn't just remembering its Islamic past. It turns out it might need it more than ever.
Mar 1, 2026 | On December 8, 2024, Syrian dictator Bashar al-Assad and his family fled to Russia, ending a 54-year dynasty. Once seen as a hopeful reformer, Assad’s rule turned bloody — half a million dead, millions displaced. This film captures the sudden fall of his regime, revealing Syrians’ struggles, the corruption of the Assad clan, and the hopes and fears of a country finally seeking its own future.
Jun 19, 2026 | On 22 June 1941, the German Wehrmacht launched a war of aggression against the Soviet Union. Under the code name ‘Operation Barbarossa’, the campaign aimed to bring the vast country in the east to its knees. Millions of people died as a result.
At the beginning of the Second World War, the Nazi regime celebrated a series of military successes: boosted by rapid victories in Norway, the Netherlands, Belgium and France, the Wehrmacht prepared a secret manoeuvre in the east, firmly convinced that troops would be back home after a few months. But the period of unimaginable violence unleashed by Hitler would claim millions of lives.
Without declaring war and with more than three million soldiers battle-ready, the Wehrmacht attacked on a broad front between the Baltic Sea and the Black Sea. In the first hours of the meticulously prepared military invasion, the Luftwaffe rained bombs on Soviet bases near the border, catching the Soviets completely off-guard.
The force of the attack was seen as a continuation of the German troops’ successful ‘Blitzkrieg’ campaigns. In his instructions to the Chief of Operations in the Armed Forces High Command, written in March 1941, Hitler had already stated: ‘This upcoming campaign is more than just a battle of arms, it’s also a clash between two worldviews. The Jewish-Bolshevik intelligentsia, as the previous oppressor of the people, must be eliminated.’
Another aim: the economic exploitation of conquered territories. Many of those involved and affected by this tragedy - Germans and Soviets, soldiers and civilians alike - recorded their harrowing experiences in amateur films, letters and diaries. These vivid descriptions of the German war of aggression in the East are a far cry from official war reporting and state propaganda. These accounts, by men and women fighting for survival, document the horror on both sides of the conflict.
June 7, 2026 | In the space of a year, Israeli democracy has faltered. From the judicial reforms that deeply divided the country in the first nine months of 2023, to the war against Hamas that followed the tragedy of the 7 October massacre,
Benyamin Netanyahu’s government, the most right-wing in the country’s history, has continued to deepen Israel’s internal divisions and led the country to face the worst existential threat in its history.
Two men embody the radical initiatives of this government, two leading ministers who occupy regalian functions: internal security and finance. Their names: Itamar Ben Gvir and Bezalel Smotrich. Both are complete unknowns on the international scene, brought into the spotlight by the events of recent months. They are the heirs of two ideological currents that were once marginal: Kahanism and religious Zionism.
Today, they are throwing all their weight behind their ideological agenda: imposing Jewish supremacist legislation, in the case of the former, and re-founding biblical Israel, in the case of the latter.
Who are they? What do they want? What is their background?
This documentary investigates two men whose strategy is to sow chaos in order to advance their ultimate project: imposing Jewish law on “Greater Israel”, from the sea to the Jordan River, and thus definitively annexing the West Bank, Gaza and even beyond.
Premiered June 17, 2026 | Once celebrated as a war hero, Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor's dramatic fall from grace ignites a deeper question: are the powerful held to the same standards as everyone else? Through expert voices and public opinion, this documentary explores privilege, scandal and the modern monarchy's struggle to maintain trust in an age of scrutiny.
Jun 3, 2026 | A country the size of Maryland built one hundred and seventy-three thousand concrete bunkers — roughly one for every sixteen people — against an invasion that never came.
For forty-one years it was the only nation in Europe to declare itself atheist by law.
One fifth of its people now live abroad.
This is Living in Albania. On a hillside above the village of Leskovik, a shepherd ducks into a concrete bunker the size of a refrigerator and hangs his canvas bag from a hook that was drilled into the wall in 1979. The country has one hundred and seventy-three thousand of them, built between 1967 and 1986.
On the Adriatic coast at Vlorë, a plaque above the harbour names a date: the seventh of March, 1991, when twenty-five thousand Albanians left this port in six days for the Italian shore. A few streets back from the water, the apartment blocks the regime poured in grey have been repainted, one building at a time, in cobalt and ochre.
Jun 5, 2026 | Using stunning colourised archive footage, this documentary brings 1930s Britain vividly back to life. From economic uncertainty and political tensions to new freedoms and modern lifestyles, discover what everyday life looked like as Europe moved closer to war.
Featuring rare footage of factories, gas mask preparations, public events, and Britain’s attempts to preserve peace with Nazi Germany, this film explores the hopes, fears, and realities of a nation standing on the brink of World War II.
Documentary: Thirties In Colour: Countdown To War EP:2
Directed by: Suniti Somaiya
Production: A Make Waves Ltd Production for Channel 5 (2019)
Sep 27, 2023 | …Join British historian Bettany Hughes as she examines a long-buried chapter of European history--the rise and fall of Islamic culture in what is now Spain and Portugal.
Although generations of Spanish rulers have tried to expunge this era from the historical record, recent archeology and scholarship now shed fresh light on the Moors who flourished in Al-Andalus for more than 700 years.
This fascinating documentary explodes old stereotypes and offers shocking new insights. You’ll discover the ingenious mathematics behind Granada’s dazzling Alhambra Palace, trace El Cid’s lineage to his Moorish roots, and learn how the Iberian population willingly converted to Islam in droves.
Through interviews with noted scholars, you’ll see how Moorish advances in mathematics, astronomy, art, and agriculture helped propel the West out of the Dark Ages and into the Renaissance.
What emerges is a richly detailed portrait of a sensuous, inquisitive, and remarkably progressive Islamic culture in Christian Europe.
Bettany Mary Hughes OBE FSA (born May 1967) is an English historian, author and broadcaster, specialising in classical history. Her published books cover classical antiquity and myth, and the history of Istanbul. She is active in efforts to encourage the teaching of the classics in UK state schools. Hughes was appointed OBE in 2019.
May 22, 2026 | In the 1950s, Spain under Francisco Franco entered a new phase known as the “Leaden Age.” After years of international isolation following World War II in 1945, the regime began to regain legitimacy. Key agreements, such as the 1953 Pact of Madrid with the United States and the 1955 admission of Spain to the United Nations, marked a turning point in Franco’s foreign policy and international standing.
These developments brought economic opportunities and a sense of stability to the country. While Spain appeared to move forward, political opposition weakened and resistance largely disappeared. Behind this controlled progress, Franco’s dictatorship remained firmly in place. This period reveals how international recognition and economic change helped secure the long-term survival of one of Europe’s most enduring authoritarian regimes.
Jan 9, 2026 | The Road to War uses elaborate re-enactments, fascinating computer-generated imagery and previously unseen archive footage to examine how the assassination in Sarajevo in 1914 came about and how Austria-Hungary used the death of the heir to the throne, Franz Ferdinand, to start a war against Serbia.
The film investigates how this regional conflict caused the central powers and the Triple Entente to enter the First World War - at the time, the biggest war in history, with 17 million soldiers and civilians killed and more than 20 million injured.
Documentary: The Road to War
Production: Metafilm for ORF (2014)
Directed by Robert Gokl
