Couples Retreat
Four couples, all friends, descend on a tropical island resort. Though one husband and wife are there to work on their marriage, the others just want to enjoy some fun in the sun. They soon find, however, that paradise comes at a price: Participation in couples therapy sessions is mandatory. What started out as a cut-rate vacation turns into an examination of the common problems many face.
Dolphin Reef
Echo is a youngster who can't quite decide if it's time to grow up and take on new responsibilities-or give in to her silly side and just have fun. Dolphin society is tricky, and the coral reef that Echo and his family call home depends on all of its inhabitants to keep it healthy. But Echo has a tough time resisting the many adventures the ocean has to offer.
Gauguin: Voyage to Tahiti
In 1891, the French painter Paul Gauguin leaves Paris and travels to Tahiti to renew his art as a free man, far from the European artistic conventionalism. On his journey of discovery, he faces solitude and disease, but he also knows the beauty of wild nature and the love of Tehura, a young native girl who becomes his wife and model.
700 Sharks
Gombessa Expedition 4 Laurent Ballesta went to observe a gathering of thousands of groupers during the full moon of June 2014 (Le mystère mérou) in the southern pass of the Polynesian atoll of Fakarava, where he discovered a pack of over seven hundred grey sharks. How can this unprecedented density be explained? Could it be that social behaviors govern this wild horde? During three years of preparation, he and the other divers on his international scientific team tamed their fear by abandoning the defensive reflexes that provoke shark aggression, with the aim of slipping into the heart of the raging pack to study and film it from the inside. Sharks fitted with microchips, receiving antennas, hydrophones, an ark of 32 synchronized cameras...: a whole technological arsenal is mobilized for the project. As the groupers approach for their annual spawning, what battle plan will the sharks deploy?
Ma'ohi Nui: In the Heart of the Ocean My Country Lies
For thirty years in the late-twentieth century, the people of Tahiti survived dozens of offshore nuclear tests by the French government. Since the country was colonized in 1880, the blasts left Tahitians picking through the remnants of their islands and culture in an effort to keep indigenous knowledges alive. The film offers a poetic glimpse into contemporary Tahiti, and the colonial struggles its people still face as they strive to sustain their way of life.
Le souffle de vie
In Polynesia, as humpback whales come to breed in the warm waters of the Pacific, Natoo immerses herself in a timeless experience.
Océania, les gardiens de l'océan
Oasen: Inseln des Lebens
Oases are more than fairytale places in the desert sand. Amidst the stony heights of the Andes, the endless expanse of the Pacific, or the hectic concrete sausages of Mumbai, islands of life flourish. In breathtaking shots, the documentary explores the phenomenon of oases – and the magical places in the Saharan sand are of course included.
The Grouper Mystery
In French Polynesia, there is a place where every year, thousands of groupers gather in secret followed by hundreds of sharks… The photographer, diver and biologist Laurent Ballesta, with his team, wanted to better understand what motivates these fish to wait until the exact day of the full moon to spawn all at once! With the help of researchers from the CNRS of Moorea, they dived and conducted numerous experiments to study and witness this unique phenomenon. Taking advantage of this period of incredible richness, Laurent Ballesta did a record dive of 24 hours at over 20 meters.
Marlon Brando's Tahitian Mirage
Marlon Brando is best known for his successful films and two Oscars. But his link with French Polynesia, where the actor lived for nearly thirty years, remains largely unexplored. For Brando, a complex and tortured character, known for being unmanageable on film sets and even sometimes obnoxious, escaped throughout his life to a small hidden island at the end of the world. By settling in Tahiti, Brando thought he could rid himself of his anguish and turpitude. But Polynesia, with its paradise-like landscapes, gentle way of life and distinctive culture, was in reality nothing more than a mirage of an idealised, peaceful existence that the star never managed to achieve.
De Charles de Gaulle à Emmanuel Macron, les gardiens de l'empire
Holy Surf! - Once Upon a Wave
The history of surfing is like one long ride in which surfers relay the baton to each other across the years on a single, endless wave. In order to understand how this ancestral Polynesian tradition was able to span the globe and the eras until it became a competitive sport and eventually won a place at the Olympics, we’ll plunge into its history through the exceptional stories of those who allowed it to survive and be reinvented.
The Voyages of Matisse, Chasing Light
On the occasion of the 150th anniversary of Matisse's birth and of the exhibition at the Center Pompidou which will be dedicated to him in 2020, this art documentary brings us back to life of the journeys made by Matisse that influenced his art. And particularly his last trip to Polynesia in 1930 which will bring him to the threshold of contemporary art with the invention of his gouache cut-out papers.
700 Sharks (Gombessa 4, Genesis)
Originally, in 2014, Laurent Ballesta had just one precise objective: to unravel the mystery of groupers. To understand the issues involved in their collective reproduction. But although focused on the study of groupers, the real surprise came from the sharks. Never before had the team been confronted with such a density of grey reef sharks. The divers took up the challenge of counting them. Methodically, they repeated the operation many times to arrive at the impressive figure of 700 grey reef sharks. Each year, the team returned to the southern pass of Fakarava in French Polynesia. Until 2019, for the fourth expedition, "Gombessa 4" is the synthesis of precise and unique scientific protocols. The mission demonstrated that shark hunts are not anarchic, but rely in part on social organization within the horde, following in the footsteps of the 700 grey sharks in "700 sharks in the night (Gombessa 4, Genesis)".
Bora Bora, le laboratoire du futur
Bora Bora is the most popular destination in French Polynesia, certainly because of its lagoon, considered the most beautiful lagoon in the world. In this context, the islet could have sunk under concrete and pollution, and the reef could have been irreparably impacted. However, thanks to the will of a handful of inhabitants including the mayor of the island, Bora Bora is today a model of sustainable development, with water treatment technologies that are 15 years ahead of France, programs to rebuild corals and protect wildlife, educational actions and the rehabilitation of Polynesian traditions such as “rahui” and the establishment of a monitoring network using new technologies. All of this makes the island a veritable open-air laboratory that shows the way for all tropical coastal environments around the world.
World's Biggest Tiger Shark
Marine biologist Kori Garza and underwater cinematographer Andy Casagrande journey to French Polynesia to track Kamakai, one of the largest tiger sharks on record.
Ura, sauver l'oiseau sacré des australes
Patutiki the Guardians of The Marquesan Tattoo
First-time feature filmmakers Heretu Tetahiotupa, Christophe Cordier delve into the ritual art of Marquesan tattoo, sharing its cultural and historical significance by reenacting the past and challenging the present.
Les Marquises, aux sources de la Polynésie
Une lubie de monsieur Fortune
At the beginning of the 20th century, Monsieur Fortune, a young missionary brimming with faith, lands on a small Polynesian island. Disarmingly naïve, he is ready to give his all to bring the word of Jesus Christ to the inhabitants and save them. Faced with his determination to evangelize them, the natives oppose him with their warm and sincere welcome, their freedom, their culture and their gods. Gradually, Vincent Fortune feels his certainties wavering and his prejudices sinking in. The people he used to think of as "good savages" are showing great refinement in their relationship with others and with nature...