Toxic Tour (2/6)

Toxic Tour

<p>In Romania, in the heart of the Carpathian Mountains, a village is disappearing every day, submerged by the waste from a nearby copper mine, opened in 1977.</p>

Romania: The Poisoned Lake

In Germany's Rhineland, a gigantic open-pit coal mine is slowly swallowing up entire villages, wiped off the map by an ultra-polluting source of energy.

Germany: The Voracious Mine

Everything is red here. In Provence an alumina refinery has been dumping tonnes of toxic red mud in the countryside and into the sea since the 1960, all with the blessing of the authorities.

France: Radioactive Mud

In Provence an alumina refinery has been dumping tonnes of toxic red mud onto land and sea since the 1960, all with the blessing of the authorities.

In Romania, in the heart of the Carpathian Mountains, a village is disappearing every day, submerged by the waste from a nearby copper mine, opened in 1977.

In Andalusia, fish cannot survive in the blood-red waters of the Rio Tinto. Highly acidic, the river is also a favourite with tourists.

Spain: The Acid River

With its turquoise water and white sand, Rosignano beach in Tuscany looks like a surfer's paradise. But the immaculate sand is due to a chemical factory that has been dumping its waste into the sea for over a century.

Italy: Corrosive Foam

With its turquoise water and white sand, Rosignano beach in Tuscany looks like a surfer's paradise. But the water is polluted.

On 26 April 1986, the reactor core of the Chernobyl nuclear power plant exploded in the world’s worst nuclear disaster. The contaminated exclusion zone, forbidden to humans, is now a nature reserve which wolves, lynxes and bears call home.

Ukraine: Wolves of Chernobyl

In Ukraine, long-distance love is the new normal. Indie pop icon Ingret Kostenko had a meteoric rise to fame until the Russian invasion forced her to flee to Germany. The man she loved was a soldier at the front and she went home regularly to see him. This separation is the inspiration for Ingret’s music.

Love in Wartime

Ukrainian Indie pop icon Ingret Kostenko is in a long-distance relationship with a soldier, the inspiration for her music.

Tracks East

It takes two Olga's to make the village of Ust-Talma in Siberia function. While the first brings delivers the mail, pension allowances and gossip, the second looks after the villagers’ health. While most Russian villages are dying out, Ust-Talma is keeping its population and is even attracting families from the cities.

While most Russian villages are dying out, Ust-Talma is keeping its population and is even attracting families from the cities.

Re: Village Life in the Siberian Taiga

Since 1945 the democracies of Europe have lived in peace. But the Russian invasion of Ukraine has shattered our ideas of peace. Can we still dream of paradise and a future free of violence? Twist explores these ideas in Berlin and at the Venice Biennale.

Paradise Lost?

Can we still dream of paradise and a future free of violence? Twist explores these ideas in Berlin and at the Venice Biennale.

Twist

TAPE: George Michael

Leave behind society, go out into nature and find again your true wild self? In our controlled societies, the idea is tempting. Ronja von Rönne goes to meet a biker gang, for whom being wild is a way of life.

Be Wild!

Streetphilosophy

Meet Olivier Latry, the organist of the famous Notre-Dame in Paris: one of the most prestigious organist gigs in the world. Join him on an exciting musical and historical journey to the heart of the organ.

Meet Olivier Latry, the organist of the famous Notre-Dame in Paris

The Organ of Notre Dame

A simple hut on the Côte d‘Azur shows all of Le Corbusier’s architectural genius.

Le Corbusier and his Cabin

Gymnastics

Conductors can gesticulate wildly when they conduct an orchestra. But have you ever wondered what exactly they are doing with their hands? And why do they use a baton?

Why Do Conductors Use Batons?

In 1973 choreographer and dancer Carolyn Carlson brought an breath of American fresh air into the Paris Opera. In true hippy style she brought barefoot dancing, improvisation and a relaxed attitude. Not everyone was ready for change.

Carolyn Carlson: The Day They Danced Barefoot at the Paris Opera

Bonuses and Extracts

Discover more

France’s President Emmanuel Macron forced through an unpopular reform of the country’s pension system – and the French aren’t having it. We travel to Romania to find out about a possible law to ban gambling adverts, and look at how to protect Europeans from addictions.

France’s pension reform / Gambling / Photography

Protests erupt across France in response to the government’s pension reform bill, and we explore gambling across Europe.

ARTE Europe Weekly

Highly influential indie rockers from Boston, famous for such tracks as Debaser and Where is my mind perform in Paris as part of a European tour for their latest album Doggerel.

Legendary and highly influential indie rockers perform in Paris as part of their European tour.

Pixies - Live at the Paris Olympia

Behind his polite exterior lies a formidable leader with a ruthless character, ready to do anything to make China the world's leading power by the People’s Republic’s centenary in 2049. This well-documented portrait of the Chinese president gives an unprecedented insight into his politics and shows how Xi Jinping's personal journey has shaped his choices as he steers China towards world domination.

A portrait of the Chinese president giving an unprecedented insight into his politics and showing how Xi Jinping's personal journey has shaped his choices as he steers China towards world domination.

The New World of Xi Jinping

The decisive moment in 1618 that triggered the Thirty Years' War between Catholics and Protestants and changed the course of European history.

The decisive moment in 1618 that triggered the Thirty Years' War between Catholics and Protestants. 

The Defenestration of Prague

At once seductive and dangerous, historical myth and male fantasy, the femme fatale represents both erotic promise and a death trap to the male observer. Conceived at the end of the 19th century in the works of Gustave Moreau, Franz von Stuck and Lovis Corinth, the femme fatale was completely reinvented in the 20th century by many female artists.

Seductive and dangerous, the figure of the femme fatale in art was completely reinvented in the 20th century.

The Femme Fatale in Art

Many governments and organisations are wary of their employers using the social media TikTok. Does the Chinese company really serve Xi Jinping’s regime?

TikTok: A Chinese Threat?

Mapping the World Essentials

Tensions between Moldova and Russia are escalating over the breakaway region of Transnistria, an investigation on how prepared Europe is for another summer of wildfires, and a report from the Dissident Club in Paris.

Tensions in Moldova / WildFires in Europe

Tensions between Moldova and Russia are escalating with street protests and controversy over Russian secret documents.

Lyubov, which means love in Russian, is 80 years old and lives alone on the shores of Lake Baikal. She bears witness to this wonder of nature and possesses and unbreakable bond with the world’s deepest lake in Siberia. Her life here is hard, especially in winter, but she would not live anywhere else.

On the shores of Lake Baikal, an old woman lives alone in a beautiful place that is dear to her heart.

The Old Woman and the Lake

An exclusive investigation into the Russian paramilitary organisation Wagner, headed by oligarch Yevgeny Prigozhin. 2,500 documents were leaked from Prigozhin’s servers by anti-Putin hackers, shedding light on this secretive group of mercenaries, a key element in the war in Ukraine.

Data Sources

An exclusive investigation into the Russian paramilitary organisation Wagner, headed by oligarch Yevgeny Prigozhin. 

The Prigozhin Papers

At first glance, it's an image of innocence. A motherly milkmaid pouring out the milk in a kitchen, preparing snacks from our childhoods. But there's actually far more to her than meets the eye.

The Milkmaid by Johannes Vermeer

A famous image that at first glance looks totally innocent, but is in actual fact full of innuendo

Look but Don't Touch

Working her way out of poverty as a sex worker all while supporting her family in Romania. That’s Andrada’s goal. She speaks confidently and openly about her work in a red-light district in Germany’s Ruhr region.  
This programme by German channel ARD is part of The European Collection, a joint initiative of European public media (ARD, ARTE, France Télévisions, SRG SSR and ZDF), coordinated by ARTE.

Portrait of a sex worker in the Ruhr region, Germany.  

Hard Life – I sell sex for money

In El Salvador, gangs have terrorised the country for decades. But when Nayib Bukele was elected president in 2019, becoming the youngest head of state in Latin America, he vowed to take back control from the gangs by installing a state of emergency.

El Salvador: The coolest dictator in the world?

When Nayib Bukele was elected president in 2019, he vowed to take back control from the gangs by installing a state of emergency.

ARTE Reportage

Trumpeter Enrico Rava and pianist Fred Hersh perform from their album, The Song Is You, at the Italian Piacenza jazz festival.

Piacenza Jazz Fest

Trumpeter Enrico Rava and pianist Fred Hersh perform from their album, The Song Is You, at the Italian azz festival.

Enrico Rava & Fred Hersch

A look at how we are getting better at managing and conserving water supplies in drier parts of our planet like southern Spain, Israel and the desert city of Las Vegas.

Water

 A look at how we are getting better at managing and conserving water supplies in drier parts of our planet like southern Spain, Israel and the desert city of Las Vegas.

Good News From Our Planet

Far from the metropolitan centre of Tel Aviv, Sderot show another side of Israel. One with high-levels of social deprivation and strong support for Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and his government’s controversial judicial reforms.

Sderot - The Other Israel

Far from the metropolitan centre of Tel Aviv, Sderot is a different Israel with strong support for Netanjahu and high levels of social deprivation.

The Greek government is under intense pressure to explain how February’s tragic train accident happened. The crash has sparked widespread anti-government protests. We take a broad view of the state of gender equality across Europe and find out about a pioneering law to help menopausal women in Spain.

Greece train crash / Gender equality / Photography

Massive protests engulf Greece after a deadly train crash, with the public pointing fingers at the government.

With all the religious wars, the 17th century was a tense time in Europe. And in art one theme caught everyone’s imagination: the Virgin Mary.

Assumption of the Virgin - Nicolas Poussin

Look But Don't Touch

The UK and the EU reach a new agreement on Northern Ireland, a focus on how bad fast fashion is for the environment, and the rise of literary influencers on Tiktok.

New Northern Ireland Agreement / Fast Fashion in Europe

The UK and the EU reach a new agreement on Northern Ireland and a focus on how bad fast fashion is for the environment, plus literary Tiktok,

Mustafa is 28 years old and grew up in the Ratingen-West district in Düsseldorf, his “hood”. It’s an area with high unemployment rates and is home to people from many different nationalities, both a melting pot and socially deprived. Mustafa now runs a kiosk in the middle of the district, on Berliner Platz. Between high-rises, friendships and poverty, we discover his life.
This programme by German channel ARD is part of The European Collection, a joint initiative of European public media (ARD, ARTE, France Télévisions, SRG SSR and ZDF), coordinated by ARTE.

Portrait of a kiosk owner in a socially deprived area of Düsseldorf, Germany.

Hard Life – I work in the middle of the ghetto

The new Windsor agreement between the EU and the UK is hoped to improve relations and solve the Northern Ireland issue.

Toxic Tour

Toxic Tour

Germany: The Voracious Mine

Toxic Tour

France: Radioactive Mud

Toxic Tour

Romania: The Poisoned Lake

Toxic Tour

Spain: The Acid River

Toxic Tour

Italy: Corrosive Foam

Toxic Tour

Ukraine: Wolves of Chernobyl

Toxic TourRomania: The Poisoned Lake

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