Corsica looks like an alpine landscape in the Mediterranean, an island with dramatic rock formations, romantic bays and proud inhabitants who see themselves first and foremost as Corsicans and only then as French. The Greeks in ancient times called the island Kalliste: the beautiful. We explore this fascinating mountain world in the Mediterranean.
Capri was already in ancient times a place for the rich and beautiful. Today Capri is one of the most famous islands in the world. Millions of tourists visit it. But there are in fact still unknown corners on the island in the Gulf of Naples. Thus, at the very top of Capri, there is a hermit monastery with a view to the Vesuvius.
The Provence is famed for its endless fields of laven-der, but this lush landscape also has a beautifully mari-time touch: The Côte Bleue! Small, hidden beaches, charming harbour towns, imposing, craggy bays and a uniquely clear light that has attracted painters includ-ing Cézanne and Braque. The coast derives its name from the deep blue water and extends from Marseille to Martigues. This small town is also known as "The Ven-ice of the North", as it is shaped entirely by water: an inland lake, the sea itself, as well as a connecting canal. In the bays of the Calanques, the steeply-walled coastal inlets in the Mediterranean limestone, Lionel Franc is a cliff diver. His personal record is a hight of 36 metres! Ambi is a sculptress. This young artist's work, who moved to Marseille from Madagascar many years ago, is characterised by a dynamic momentum. As a pas-sionate pétanque player, she demonstrates this drive on the boules courts of the port city. John Pendray is Pein-tre officiel de la Marine, an official marine painter. The French state allows just 40 painters to its circle. There are no monetary rewards, but heaps of honour and a very smart uniform!
Venice has been attracting people as if by magic for centuries. The Italians call her La Serenissima, or the sublime. Perched on wooden posts, she braves the elements and the huge, annual surge of visitors. Vogalonga is the name of a Venetian sports competition for women, in which the participants row their boats standing. This is a tradition that Guilia and Elena also follow. They train hard, as the yearly regatta is soon to begin. Anyone caught driving their water vehicle with more than 7 km/h through the canals of Venice, risks getting a ticket from local policewoman Lorenza Mariutti. The reason: the resulting waves gnaw at the foundations of the grand palaces. Venetians are very attached to their traditional cuisine. The island of Sant' Erasmo is the town's garden. Artichokes, radicchio, onions, everything that grows here is said to taste fantastic, thanks to the salt content of the air and water. Carlo and Claudio Finotello not only grow the vegetables, they even deliver directly to their customers' doors. At sunset, they sail through the lagoon with their boat, brimming with produce, towards San Marco. People waiting at the many bridges, now receive their wares: regional, seasonal, fresh. And without a hint of stress if possible. Like so many other things in Venice. Perhaps because La Serenissima is also known as "The Composed".
In honour of the Archangel Michael, thousands of medieval Christians set off on pilgrimages to the famous mountain monastery of the Mont-Saint-Michel in the Atlantic Ocean. Today it continues to enchant millions of visitors each year. But the pilgrimage route from Rouen to the mountain abbey seems to have been forgotten: it leads through the depths of Normandy into rural France.
In the Middle Ages, the horrifying murder of Archbishop Thomas Becket of Canterbury led thousands of pilgrims to the south of England. Centuries later, the long-forgotten Pilgrims' Way is now enjoying a revival. The Pilgrims Way leads east to west cross-country from Winchester to Canterbury through the counties of Hampshire, Surrey and Kent.
The Wismar Bay is unique in its diversity on the Mecklenburg Baltic Sea coast: cliffs, sandy beaches, salt marshes, enchanted islands and, last but not least, the proud Hanseatic city of Wismar with its brick Gothic buildings, which are a UNESCO World Heritage Site. When the mighty logs get wedged together in the timber mill in the port of Wismar, Steven Buchholz has to get to work with his chainsaw. It's a dangerous job, because the logs weigh tons. As a trained carpenter, Steven is a virtuoso with the chain saw. Even after his shift is over, he is looking for the thrill: the wind off his home island of Poel is favorable that day and he wants to reclaim the German record in the kite surfing high jump. For a long time, Ramona Stelzer only knew fish as a tasty ingredient between two halves of a bun. But when the goldsmith got her hands on fish leather, her business idea was born: she processes the unique natural product fish skin into fine jewelry. The problem is that hardly anyone in Germany tans fish skin. In order to reliably obtain supplies, Ramona now wants to learn this craft herself.
The world‘s best helicopter camera system - the Cineflex Camera - was used for this documentary and delivered fantastic images in HD quality, revealing the surprisingly diverse landscapes and fascinating towns of Poland from a bird‘s eye view of Poland‘s medieval towns, the modern silhouette of Warsaw, the untouched nature of the border regions between east and west, the coasts to the north and the mountain ranges of the south
The knights of the deep are on the move almost no part of their bodies is without armor. Like medieval warriors, these fighters are well armed – not with sword and shield, but with scissors and forceps and defensive armor that is covered with spikes and hooks. And even though they are well protected and have an uncanny awareness of their surroundings, many of these proud knights will face a gloomy destiny. Many of them will end upon a plate. Gourmets all over the world are in love with these famous crustaceans: lobsters! For marine biologists lobsters are similarly fascinating: as research objects. We are on their trail in Cape Breton, an island in the northern Atlantic and part of the Canadian province Nova Scotia, where one of the largest populations of lobsters has its home.
They are virtually unchanged from their ancestors, who swam in ancient rivers when the dinosaurs still ruled the planet. Their unfertilised eggs became black gold, served in only the most expensive restaurants as caviar. This ancient giant is the Beluga Sturgeon, considered by some to be the largest freshwater fish in the world. Sturgeons are now at the very edge of extinction because of the exclusive market for their eggs, but only the eggs can allow the species to live. Paradoxically, the desire for caviar may now be the only chance they have for their future existence.
André Wiersig, born in 1972, has achieved what no German has ever done before: he has swum through the world's seven most famous straits, the so-called Ocean's Seven. To prepare for it, he chose a familiar but hostile environment. In his carport, he hardened himself in a rain barrel filled with groundwater.
The Cairns Turtle Rehabilitation Center (CTRC) raises and cares for sick, or injured turtles, while the Schmidt Ocean Institute goes on a diving mission with a high-tech underwater rover. In this way, we learn firsthand about the state of Australia's sensitive marine animals' natural habitat and what needs to be done to ensure their survival.
The times where eagles have been seen as varmints are over. They are now perceived as an integral part of the food cycle. Due to the fact that the habitats of the sea eagles in Germany are largely found in the north-eastern regions that are rich in water, the movie accompanies the eagles to an island, home to hundreds of sea ravens, where they rob the baby sea ravens of their food. They seem to always profit from the successes of the fellow creatures in their habitats. This film introduces you to the expert poachers of the animal kingdom.
The North Sea is enigmatic. It presents itself in cool shades of grey. Yet who would have guessed that beneath the chilly waves are opulent coral gardens, courting squids, and several of the largest sea creatures on the planet?
Our journeys take us all around the world from Patagonia to the USA, from Greenland to South Africa and from Cambodia to Australia and leads us to the most fascinating places where landscapes animals and humans are the main focus of our documentaries. Whether on land or at sea – the last paradises of the world are our destination.
In the little Filipino village of Oslob on the Cebu Island, people suffer from typhoons and overfishing. Until the world's biggest fish and the Internet change everything.Fisherman Zosimo's dearest wish is for his children to graduate from high school one day. Yet the chance that this wish will come true is tiny, since at times Zosimo doesn't even manage to feed the family. Typhoons and overfishing make the lives of Oslob fishermen difficult.
With the aid of modern technology, reveal the unknown behaviour of some unusual species of shark: lemon sharks and their white-tip reef counterparts. Our film trip begins on the Bahamas. To be more precise: in the turquoise-blue waters of the Grand Bahama Bank, in an exactly fixed location. In the spring, 70 – 80 pregnant lemon sharks arrive here. This huge shark population was first discovered just a few years ago by shark researcher, Professor Sam Gruber. Many of the females are tired and rest on the seabed. Pregnant tiger sharks swim in the midst of this group. Without any protection whatsoever, our cameramen shoot their footage, surrounded by sharks and succeed in capturing images hitherto unseen. We continue our journey to Gainesville, Florida, to meet Gordon Hubbell, the leading shark denture expert with the world's largest shark denture collection. He knows everything about the evolutionary history of the lemon sharks, in addition to those of the white-tip reef variety off Cocos Island, Costa Rica. Here, we encounter large schools of fish, unprecedented numbers of stingrays, as well as hammerhead sharks. However, it is the white-tip reek sharks that make the biggest impression. Their performance begins late at night. Marauding, they patrol in large groups through the reefs and hunt everything that moves. Scales and dead prey fish float above the reef – a welcoming change of diet for the ubiquitous barracudas.
Watching the graceful movement of these gelatinous animals is almost hypnotic. Although their bodies are 98% water, jellyfish are deceptively clever and dangerous. But where do these primordial creatures come from? How do they reproduce and how long do they live?
The knights of the deep are on the move almost no part of their bodies is without armor. Like medieval warriors, these fighters are well armed – not with sword and shield, but with scissors and forceps and defensive armor that is covered with spikes and hooks. And even though they are well protected and have an uncanny awareness of their surroundings, many of these proud knights will face a gloomy destiny. Many of them will end upon a plate. Gourmets all over the world are in love with these famous crustaceans: lobsters! For marine biologists lobsters are similarly fascinating: as research objects. We are on their trail in Cape Breton, an island in the northern Atlantic and part of the Canadian province Nova Scotia, where one of the largest populations of lobsters has its home.
In the middle of the Antarctic Ocean, an entire mountain range arises from the water: South Georgia, the nursery of the Antarctic. Hundreds of thousands of penguins, elephant seals, fur seals and their young overcrowd the beaches. The rough weather and the extremely difficult access to the island cause filmmaking to be an endeavor requiring much of the film crew around Roland Gockel and Rosie Koch and the state of the art cameras. A lot of patience and sensitivity over a period spanning some five years now offers unknown and poignant insights into the life of the King Penguins on South Georgia Island