Costa Rica, le réveil de la nature

What motivates a cock-fighter to fight a rooster he loves? In Costa Rica, cockfighting is considered a crime and has been banned for 99 years. A large part of society rejects this tradition and those who practice it, but is it fair to morally judge a cock-fighter as a criminal? We will get to know the other side of the coin through the gaze of the cock-fighter.

Nóouhàh-Toka’na, known as swift fox in English, once roamed the North American Great Plains from Canada to Texas. Like bison, pronghorn and other plains animals, Nóouhàh-Toka’na held cultural significance for the Native Americans who lived alongside them. But predator control programs in the mid-1900s reduced the foxes to just 10 percent of their native range. At the Fort Belknap Indian Community in Montana, members of the Aaniiih and Nakoda tribes are working with the Smithsonian’s National Zoo and Conservation Biology Institute and other conservation partners to restore biodiversity and return Nóouhàh-Toka’na to the land.

Costa Rica's motto is Pura Vida - Pure Life - and this deceptively small country is bursting with some of the most spectacular wildlife and pristine ecosystems in the world. All this diversity thrives, in part, thanks to one surprising little creature: hummingbirds. Venture across Costa Rica's wild and rugged landscapes, from volcanic peaks to coastal jungle to misty cloud forests and discover the nation's dazzling diversity of hummingbirds. Watch how these tiny birds play an outsize role in maintaining some of the richest and wildest environments on Earth, where a whole community of creatures, such as macaws and monkeys, enjoys The Hummingbird Effect.

An inspirational story about a group of women from a remote farming region of Costa Rica whose ideas sparked a revolution in the coffee growing world.

Narrated by Academy Award winners Sissy Spacek and Herbie Hancock, River of Gold is the disturbing account of a clandestine journey into Peru's Amazon rainforest to uncover the savage unraveling of pristine jungle. What will be the fate of this critical region of priceless biodiversity as these extraordinarily beautiful forests are turned into a hellish wasteland?

From infinitely small to super-predator, from the earthworm to the whale, from the blade of grass to the giant tree, Vibrant takes you on a journey to discover the biodiversity one country can host. Through the breathtaking natural environments of France, it is an exploration of the pyramid of life. It is also, and above all, an opportunity to marvel at these species capable of a thousand feats, subtly connected to each other and of which the human being is an integral part. A link that we have too often forgotten and that it is time to reweave.

Inspired by an exclusive interview and performance footage of Chavela Vargas shot in 1991 and guided by her unique voice, the film weaves an arresting portrait of a woman who dared to dress, speak, sing, and dream her unique life into being.

This is the story of a tiny country that made a decision to do something that no other country had ever done -- it decided to abolish its army and declare peace to the world. And this is the story of a young boy who grew up in that country, and how he ended up challenging -- and sometimes even convincing -- the greatest powers in the world to follow Costa Rica's example. "Oscar Arias: Without a Shot Fired" is a Don Quixote-like saga with great historical touchstones -- Ronald Reagan and Mikhail Gorbachev, Cold War politics and Communism, Central American War and Peace. It follows a slight, academic, and most unlikely hero over the course of more than fifty years, as he travels the world in a quest to stop the spread of the weapons of war. In the end, it is a story about the triumph of reason, of the sparrow triumphing over the eagle, and how the impossible dream can sometimes come true.

David Attenborough and scientist Johan Rockström examine Earth's biodiversity collapse and how this crisis can still be averted.

In 1977, the workers of the INAVE vehicle assembly company went on strike. This strike was declared legal, one of the few registered in the country. This strike was also a strike that demanded great sacrifice from the workers. It lasted more than three months, more than three months without pay and in constant struggle, until the strikers finally achieved their victory.

In the late 1970s, Marcel fled Catalonia to avoid conscription into the Spanish military. For 30 years he has been living in the tropical forests of Costa Rica, where he hosts ayahuasca ceremonies for young seekers from the West.

This film was originally made for the International Conference on Human Settlements (HABITAT) which was held in Vancouver, Canada. Taking as an example the production and marketing of bananas and the prevailing conditions in the world market - dominated by the virtual monopoly of three multinational companies -, it is shown how as a result of this monopolistic domination, the Costa Rican State has stopped receiving equitable taxes for what that, in the end, the housing and public services offered by the country are characterized as those of an underdeveloped society. The attempt made since 1974 by a group of banana-producing countries, aimed at improving sales prices to multinationals and raising taxes; The resulting “banana war” are examples of the enormous efforts that small banana countries have to make to achieve greater justice in the prevailing market conditions.

Sur le Front des Océans

The silent majority is the Costa Rican peasantry, which has been the object of traditional contempt and which has manifested itself in various forms: unfair salary compensation, bad prices for their agricultural products, financing difficulties, land grabs, precarious housing and educational conditions. health. Precariousness, peasant migrations and the depletion of the agricultural frontier are also analyzed in the film.

Les Trésors cachés des gorges

'Behind The Garden Gate' is a documentary film about homegrown biodiversity and the challenges that come with it. In the 1970s Guus Lieberwerth and friends cleared a patch of agricultural wasteland in order to take care of rare and endangered plants and animals. ​Now, 50 years later nature is thriving within a hidden paradise just five minutes away from a city centre, but even closer to systemic pressures and land developers.

Itapoa - Un proyecto que camina

Salango is a small parish south of Manabí. What this land means to Ecuador, however, is huge. Its name is associated with the pre-Columbian legacy of the Manta Wancavilca cultures, the humpback whales that arrive each year to mate, the homonymous island and its coral reefs, the great wealth of marine fauna. It is there, in one of the places with the greatest archeological and environmental heritage of our country, where the Polar fishmeal processor has been operating for 35 years. What does not emerge from the idyllic postcards of the area is the foul smell that pollutes the air, the portrait of people sick from the factory's toxic wastes, the disgusting black smoke that flows into the sea directly from the processor pipeline. That is why it is the struggle of the few members of the community who have not given up and demand that Polar leave.

Vandana Shiva discusses biodiversity at the World Women’s Congress for a Healthy Planet in Miami, Nov. 1991 in advance of the Earth Summit. In a follow up workshop women devise policy. Wangari Maathai reads the final platform. At a concluding press conference, Peggy Antrobus underscores that the real issues were discussed by women in Miami, and will not be put forth in Rio.

In times of global ecological crisis, Costa Rica seems to be an oasis for its rich biodiversity. Nacho traces a route to learn about agroecological projects, discovering what the indigenous communities call "good living" Could this be the solution?