Back to Fukushima / 2019
#Japan

In March 2011, a deadly earthquake hit Japan. The reactors of the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power station were shut down as a precaution. However, a 15-metre tidal wave triggered by the earthquake flooded the plant’s cooling system, shutting it down. Over the next few days, a series of hydrogen explosions occurred in the reactors. Levels of radioactivity in the area skyrocketed as radioactive contamination was released into the atmosphere. It was the worst nuclear accident since Chernobyl. After more than a decade, former residents are returning to their town.

🌍 Join Documentary Planet for more!

Donbass: That’s Why I’m Here / 2023
#Donbass

‘It's very difficult to withstand the onslaught of a system that does everything possible to prevent the truth from reaching people who want to get information’, says Italian journalist Vittorio-Nicola Rangeroni. In 2015, he went to the city of Lugansk in Eastern Ukraine to show the world how the Ukrainian government shells its own people. Like many other investigative journalists, Rangeroni not only risks his life while reporting from the hot zones, but faces extreme pressure and the prospect of imprisonment when returning home. To better understand how he feels about what he sees in Donbass every day and why Western media ignore such reports — check out our new documentary.

🌍 Join Documentary Planet for more!

Beirut: Picking Up the Pieces / 2021
#Lebanon

In August 2020, a giant blast tore through the Lebanese capital of Beirut. Eyewitnesses described it as if the end of the world had come. Some 2,700 tonnes of highly explosive ammonium nitrate exploded in the city port, creating shock waves for kilometres in all directions.

The explosion levelled much of the city. At least 220 people were killed, thousands more were injured and scores lost their homes. More than two years after the deadly explosion, victims and their families are still looking for accountability.

🌍 Join Documentary Planet for more!

Argentinian DNA: Music of the Downtrodden / 2019
#Argentina

Cumbia is huge in Latin America. This musical genre is based on a simple drum beat brought by African slaves, blended with local rhythms. Millions of Argentinians enjoy upbeat motifs and straightforward lyrics. For more about the popular Latin American music watch this final episode of the Argentinian DNA.

🌍 Join Documentary Planet for more!

The Cocaine River / 2023
#Brazil #Colombia #Peru

‘Everyone here is afraid. People live in fear. Everyone here has received threats... and this house over there was set on fire. Many of my police friends tell me: 'Lay low, Silvana! Don't get involved, or you'll disappear'', says Brazilian Village Head Silvana. Every day Silvana and her neighbours have clashes with drug dealers: the thing is, the main trafficking routes pass along the Amazon river right next to their village. Criminals push locals to abandon their houses and farms, so they can store, load, and send their illegal cargo into the ocean. When villagers discovered the whole cocaine trafficking network and where it is stored, they immediately went to the police. However, it turned out that the police were bribed to help the traffickers. Locals wish to live in peace and raise their children, but how is it possible living next to the main cocaine trafficking artery?

🌍 Join Documentary Planet for more!

Black Lives: Hope / 2018
#USA

Since the time of slavery, African Americans have responded to oppression through music. This creativity has given America a wealth of musical genres, from spiritual to R&B. Dogman is a crack baby turned gangsta rapper from L.A.’s Compton ghetto. SaRon Crenshaw, an East Coast blues guitarist, gives his own twist to the tunes his ancestors used to voice their grievances in the cotton fields. And Seaton Hancock, a saxophonist whose range goes from hard rock to jazz, plays very loudly in Harlem bars.

🌍 Join Documentary Planet for more!

Ice Queen of Kungur / 2012
#Russia

Kungur Ice Cave is one of the world’s longest and most beautiful caves. Its caverns boast a total of 5.7 kilometres of paths. There are also 70 underground lakes and 146 vertical shafts, known as ‘organ pipes’, that connect to the surface. Explore its enchanted network of grottos and paths covered by ice crystals and stalagmites with the filming crew. They venture deep into the ‘Pearl of Kungur’ to capture the stunning mineral kingdom.

🌍 Join Documentary Planet for more!

Sahara: Desert Winter / 2014
#Tunisia

Sometimes it snows even in the Sahara, the world’s largest desert! Winters are cold and humid in the Sahara Desert, but there’s a hot event that attracts leading camel racers from Algeria, Libya, Oman and Saudi Arabia. Witness Tunisia’s annual desert festival and meet desert nomads.

🌍 Join Documentary Planet for more!

Walking after War / 2023
#Donbass #Russia

‘The money for my first prosthetics was also raised by the fund. Some of it was paid by my parents, some of it by the fund. But for my sports prosthetics, we sold the house we lived in. And my dad bought me a sports prosthesis’, recalls Anatoly Shevchenko, who lost his leg 15 years ago. Though it was expensive, the artificial leg allowed him to return to normal life and inspired other people with the same problem.

Now Anatoly is a prosthetics engineer at the Kursk Prosthetic Clinic. Anatoly works for free and raises funds to help Donbass fighters recover. Watch the documentary to see how these brave people fight their battles on the frontline and in everyday life.

🌍 Join Documentary Planet for more!

Bolivian DNA: Chasing the President / 2018
#Bolivia

Bolivia is a land of spectacular beauty, indigenous people, coca leaves and former ‘Brother-President’ Evo Morales. Having first emerged as the leader of the coca growers (cocaleros), Evo Morales won a landslide victory in the 2005 presidential election. He became the first indigenous leader and one of the continent’s most popular leftist rulers. In the first episode of the Bolivian series, host Pavel Selin talks to Evo Morales and discovers small towns and traditions of the indigenous Aymara and Quechua people.

🌍 Join Documentary Planet for more!

Cold Rush / 2016
#Arctic

In the frozen Russian Arctic, oil exploration is going on round the clock. The Prirazlomnaya platform is a self-contained floating town. The platform is Russia’s first to exploit the untapped oil riches below the Arctic Ocean. Everyday life on board is gruelling and hectic as the 200 people onboard pump thousands of tons of oil a day into huge tankers.

🌍 Join Documentary Planet for more!

Volunteers for Victory / 2023
#Russia #Ukraine

Every day, hundreds of Russian men are volunteering for the Special Military Operation in Ukraine. Why are they willing to fight? Volunteers from Siberia and the Far East and Krasnodar explain why they decided to join Russia's armed forces, even though they weren't drafted. Can a 60-year-old man or someone with no military background volunteer? This documentary tells the stories of four men who voluntarily chose to take up arms.

🌍 Join Documentary Planet for more!

Black Lives: Agents of Change / 2018
#USA

Growing up Black in America often means living in dangerous neighbourhoods with underfunded schools and little hope for the future, but the community is fighting back.

In Philadelphia, Steven Stewart takes another go at graduating high school thanks to YESPhilly, a second chance school for dropouts. He also learns how to responsibly handle guns with Black Guns Matter activist Maj Toure. In New York, Black Lives Matter activists give Bronx teenagers the media and legal skills they need to fight for their rights.

🌍 Join Documentary Planet for more!

Baikal Blues / 2016
#Russia

Lake Baikal is one of the world’s greatest natural treasures. The ancient lake holds 20 percent of the world’s fresh water and has high endemic species diversity. However, scientists have been raising alarms over pollution, invading non-native algae and shrinking fish stocks.

Our documentary crew joins an expedition across Baikal to see if the lake is under ecological threat and what is being done to protect it.

🌍 Join Documentary Planet for more!

On Women’s Shoulders / 2013
#Tajikistan

It's hard to find a man in a tiny village of Pinyon in mountainous Tajikistan. All able-bodied men have left to work abroad to earn five times as much as at home. According to some estimates, up to a million Tajiks leave the country searching for work abroad every year. In the meantime, mothers, wives and sisters are left behind with households to take care of.

Bibi Khamroeva is 57, and she spends six months in the mountains herding cows with other women.They wish their men didn't have to work abroad and could help at home. Tajikistan is the poorest country in Central Asia. It heavily relies on the remittance inflow, with cash transfers making up nearly half of its GDP.

🌍 Join Documentary Planet for more!

Western Sahara: Determined / 2017
#WesternSahara

Western Sahara is one of the most heavily mined territories in the world following decades of conflict between indigenous Sahrawi people and Morocco. Despite a 1991 ceasefire, most Sahrawis still linger in refugee camps in Algeria because it is too dangerous to live there. But some brave women have taken it upon themselves to clear their ancestral lands of landmines so their people can return.

🌍 Join Documentary Planet for more!

Café Sheroes / 2016
#India

Café Sheroes’ Hangout is a safe haven for women who survived acid attacks, which are all too common in India. Husbands, relatives and suitors are usually the ones who carry out the attacks. They cite spurned romantic advances and domestic disputes as motives.

Even though attackers risk a life sentence, the damage done to victims is irreparable. Victims deal with trauma, social stigma and rejection. While many prefer to hide their face and keep away from others, the women at Sheroes’ Hangout prove there is life after an attack. They manage the cafe, serve clients, take pictures, and make themselves visible.

🌍 Join Documentary Planet for more!