FRACK US / 2014
#USA

Fracking is a technique for recovering gas and oil that involves drilling deep into the earth. The discovery of fracking has increased the US production of oil and gas. The process is economically efficient and allows inaccessible resources to be collected. However, fracking is associated with a number of environmental problems. Contamination of water, air pollution, land degradation lead to loss of animal and plant habitat, as well as human health risks. Fracking is banned in numerous EU countries and Australia, but it takes place in more than 20 US states. People who live near fracking sites share their thoughts on how the “Shale Revolution” changed their lives for the worst.

🌍 Join Documentary Planet for more!

Occupy Tower / 2015
#Venezuela

One of Caracas’ infamous landmarks is a grim, half-finished, abandoned skyscraper. Nicknamed the Tower of David (Torre de David), it once provided shelter for hundreds of low-income families with nowhere else to go.

The vertical slum operated as a commune. Squatters gathered for meetings and various activities, including cleaning common areas. Residents had a gym, convenience stores, and barbershops so they could live without leaving their tower. However, the squatters had to leave in 2014 after the government deemed the Tower of David unsafe to live in. Then, the building began to lean in 2018 after an earthquake hit.

🌍 Join Documentary Planet for more!

Finnish Face of Fascism / 2023
#USSR #Finland

‘Galya died first, and about a month and a half later, Nina died, already in 1943. Both of my sisters died of starvation…’, recalls Lenina Makeeva, a Finnish concentration camp survivor. In December 1941 all of her family were incarcerated. Lenina, then a small girl, spent almost three years in Petrozavodsk concentration camp no. 5 and was the only member of the family to survive.

The exact number of deaths in the concentration camps set up by the Finns during World War II is still unknown. Watch the documentary to learn why people responsible for these crimes still go unpunished.

🌍 Join Documentary Planet for more!

In a Siberian Tiger’s Footsteps / 2020
#China

The Siberian tiger is known as the spirit of the forest in north-eastern China. The magnificent animal roams freely across the Russian-Chinese border. They are the world’s largest cats that can survive lengthy winters. Unfortunately, there are about 500 Siberian tigers left in the wild. Poaching, an anti-pest campaign and deforestation even caused the tiger to disappear from the Chinese borderland. In 2001, China created the Hunchun National Nature Reserve as part of a conservation plan. Did it help the population of Siberian tigers grow?

🌍 Join Documentary Planet for more!

Bolivian DNA: Titicaca, the lake of mystery / 2018
#Bolivia

Bolivia boasts many world records and one of them is the world’s highest navigable lake, Titicaca. In this episode, host Pavel Selin and his friend Ramiro are travelling to Titicaca to bring offerings to Pachamama, a goddess of earth and fertility and to get a boat building lesson. The two also visit the ancient city of Tiwanaku, believed to be part of the fabled island of Atlantis.

🌍 Join Documentary Planet for more!

Black Lives: Deadlock / 2019
#USA

Episode 8 of the Black Lives series investigates what is keeping Black and White Americans from living as one community. A white supremacist family involved in the Ku Klux Klan talks about their desire for separatism, while an African American radio host and Black Lives Matter activist discuss White flight and gentrification, and their effect on community mixing.

🌍 Join Documentary Planet for more!

Angels of Death / 2016
#Israel

The Israeli Defence Forces have a special messenger unit. Its task is to deliver tragic news to families of soldiers killed in action. Messenger service officers wear a distinctive uniform, and thus every Israeli knows why they are knocking on a particular door. The servicemen, known as ‘angels of death’, share what it takes to do their job and why the messenger service is needed.

🌍 Join Documentary Planet for more!

Red Alert Road to Deception / 2023
#USA

In 2022, the US military budget was almost $800 billion. 2023 will see an increase in the defence budget to $858 billion – an absolute world record for army maintenance and new weapon types production. The second episode of Red Alert explores America’s foreign policy and its national goals. “There is the illusion of democracy [in the US]. There is less democracy there than I’ve seen, for example, in Donetsk People’s Republic,” says John Mark Dougan. He’s a former police officer and whistleblower who fled Florida and moved to Moscow in 2016. John Dougan is certain that Washington and its military-industrial complex wins big from conflicts around the world, including the one in Ukraine.

🌍 Join Documentary Planet for more!

Little Miss Kung Fu / 2017
#China

Kung fu, or wushu, is a popular sport and an essential part of Chinese culture. There are still dozens of kung fu boarding schools in the country. The daily grind in the schools is harsh. Discipline is key in studying traditional martial arts, so children train from dawn till dusk and manage to squeeze in some studies too. Parents don’t come often, and students learn to be self-reliant. Life in the kung fu school sounds hard, so why do parents send their children away?

🌍 Join Documentary Planet for more!

Cobalt Hell / 2022
#Congo

Cobalt is an essential material used to make lithium-ion batteries for our smartphones and laptops. But the price workers in Congolese mines have to pay is high. Miners in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, which contains two-thirds of the world’s cobalt, extract and process the ore by hand. It causes serious health problems and environmental pollution. Yet, none of the workers is ready to give up his job. Congolese cobalt miners agree to this backbreaking work to make ends meet.

🌍 Join Documentary Planet for more!

Our Big Russian Family / 2022
#Russia

The Falin family have fostered 30 kids. They take children from dysfunctional families, children’s homes or simply off the streets. Tatyana and Artyom Falins fostered their first child in 2003. A girl walked up to Tatyana on the street and asked to take her.

Tatyana and Artyom find a place in their home even for those kids who couldn’t adjust to other families because their psychological trauma was too much to handle. All the kids who the Falins have fostered see them as their parents and even want to come back to them from other countries. What does it feel like raising such a diverse family?

🌍 Join Documentary Planet for more!

Bolivian DNA: Amazonia / 2018
#Bolivia

The final episode of the Bolivian DNA series takes host Pavel Selin and his friend Ramiro to the Amazon. They brave the ‘Dead Road’ to get to the heart of the Bolivian Amazon, watch traditional cockfighting and meet the Pacahuara tribe.

🌍 Join Documentary Planet for more!

Black Lives: Doom / 2019
#USA

Growing up in a disadvantaged African American neighbourhood doesn’t necessarily mean you’re mired in a cycle of poverty, drugs and crime forever. An ex-gang member, a former inmate, and a postman who had drug-addicted family members discuss their experiences in this episode of Black Lives. They share personal stories of how they managed to escape the grim reality they were apparently predestined to exist in.

🌍 Join Documentary Planet for more!

Discovering China’s Agricultural Traditions / 2022
#China

The northeast plain of China is rich with black soil, the most fruitful soil on Earth. Lishu County is lucky to have such rich soil, which has made it a centre for corn growing in China. The largest autumn harvest festival, or the ‘Farmers’ Olympics’, is held here. This China episode takes a closer look at Chinese supply chains, agricultural traditions and the way Chinese farmers treat the environment.

🌍 Join Documentary Planet for more!

To Be a Cosmonaut / 2019
#Russia

Kids all over the world say they want to become cosmonauts when they grow up. But for most, dreams of space are forgotten along the path to adulthood. This film shows three grown-ups - would-be space explorers in the Roscosmos recruitment campaign. Andrey, Konstantin and Irina are among 420 applicants undergoing a rigorous selection process. They all come from diverse backgrounds, but all of them have high chances of fulfilling their dream. Who is going to become a cosmonaut? Find out in the documentary!

🌍 Join Documentary Planet for more!

Zombie Fashion / 2020
#Thailand

Kanittha ‘Cook’ Thongnaki from Thailand has come up with an unconventional way to fight clothing waste. She gives dead peoples’ clothes new life. Cook sells items donated from relatives of the deceased or Buddhist monasteries in her online store.

But the main twist is that Cook dresses as a Zombie to add a shock value to her business. Surprisingly, her home town embraced the idea. ‘Don’t be scared,’ Cook urges. All her clothes go through a ritual cleansing ceremony. They are also very cheap.

Clothes that can’t be reused turn into custom ghost-like dolls. Do you also hate when good clothes go to waste?

🌍 Join Documentary Planet for more!

Switched at Birth / 2012
#Russia

Twenty years ago, two women gave birth to two boys, a blond and a brunet, on the same day at the same maternity hospital. The brunet grew up in a happy fair-haired family and the blond was raised in a depressive atmosphere of poverty amid the father's constant suspicions about his wife's adultery. Later on, his father passed away and left the woman and her son to survive on their own in a remote northern city.

When both boys found out who their real parents were, their lives changed dramatically. Is there a winner in the chess game destiny has played with these people’s lives?

🌍 Join Documentary Planet for more!

Seeking Recognition: Republika Srpska / 2019
#BosniaandHerzegovina

Republika Srpska is a region in Bosnia and Herzegovina, where 1.3 million Serbs live and govern themselves. In 1992, it proclaimed itself an independent republic. Then the Bosnian war broke out, it claimed 100,000 lives and forced hundreds of thousands to flee.

The documentary gives Bosnian Serbs the chance to tell their side of the story about the War and its aftermath. Recent President Milorad Dodik shares his frustration with Western double standards in opposing Serbian independence. Darko Mladic, the son of Butcher-or-hero, General Ratko Mladic, and wartime Parliamentary Speaker and ex-convict, Moncilo Krajicek. Both speak of bias at the ICTY Court in the Hague. In Andricgrad, the city of culture he founded, the legendary director, Emir Kusturica shares his hopes of bringing healing to the region through education.

🌍 Join Documentary Planet for more!