Languages: English

Il était une fois une tique. Une femelle tique qui vivait dans le plumage d’un Albatros de Laysan. Ensemble, ils parcouraient les vastes étendues du Pacifique Nord , entre l’archipel d’Hawaii et les Aléoutiennes. Pendant que son hôte errait au gré des tempêtes en quête de quelques poissons, elle vivait une paisible existence et se cramponnait dans la douce chaleur d’une couche de duvet et de plumes. Puis vint le temps des amours de l’albatros synonyme de retour àterre obligatoire pour les vagabonds de l’océan. Les ébats et leurs inévitables épouillages mutuels mirent provisoirement fin à la douce quiétude : face aux becs qui pénêtrent réguliêrement dans le plumage, la tique préfêre lâcher prise et se laisser tomber sur le sol où l’attendent d’autres dangers. La tique va alors montrer d’incroyables capacités de résistance : piétinée par des pattes palmées, soulevée par quelques facétieux courants d’air, ou encore écrasée par un œuf chutant d’une hauteur équivalent àmille fois sa taille, elle survit tant bien que mal et donne vie à la génération suivante. Pour les tiques fraîchement écloses, une existence hasardeuse commence alors : selon les vents et les rencontres, les plus fortunées s’accrocheront àoiseau de passage, d’autres attendront au coin d’une pierre des jours meilleurs, d’autres finiront dévorées avec leur hôte par un requin tigre.

Before being an earthly paradise with enchanting colours, the lagoon of New-Caledonia is above all a paradise for sharks. Usually considered as fierce predators, sharks really are opportunistic scavengers. Scavengers that are not too picky when it comes to their menu: feathers, fins or fur, anything will do. Amongst the most striking scenes which punctuate this documentary filmed for four years in New Caledonia, is the never-seen-before sequence of the planet’s greatest animal, a weakened blue whale, attacked and cleaned up by hordes of sharks from the surface down to the abyss. High quality images and a dramatic backdrop soundtrack plunge us into the shark’s world.

As soon as a wild beast dies, lions will feed on its carcass for a week or more. Soon after, other scavengers will come for their share: vultures, marabou storks, and hyenas will all come to feed. Over a period of five months, using the latest techniques of macro and aerial photography, this film will follow the life and death of wild beasts, to reveal the world of the scavengers in the plains of Tanzania and Kenya.This extraordinary film features the largest wildebeest migration of the XXst century : a drought following an extreme El nino pushed all the beasts toward the green plains of Kenya. Some very unique material has been gathered during this epic shoot;like the unforgetable footage of hippos removing wilderbeest carcasses from the Mara river’s oxbows or several young zebras caught in the dangerous river flow.

Once upon a time, there was a flea who lived buried deep in the feathers of a Laysan Albatross. Together, they travelled across the tormented oceans of the Pacific Ocean landing only on very rare ocasions. Until one day… the albatross chooses to land on Midway an island 3000km off any land coast, to mate and start a family. Taking advantage of the physical closeness of this bird couple, the flea seizes the opportunity to explore the feathers of the female, from where she will witness the hatching of an egg. Then, the flea quickly prefers to jump onto the soft duvet of the young bird, not yet able to fly. In the nest, the young albatross discovers all the dangers which surround him, such as the penguins who come and steal food left by his parents. This provides an excellent opportunity for the flea, who decides to discover new feathers – the first of many to come. The flea will, from here on, share the same life style of the petrels, royal penguins, both adult and juvenile. In its little air bubble, the flea is protected from the pressure of the water whenever its hosts go for a dip in order to hunt for krill or anchovies. To keep a safe guard over its territory, the flea will confront tics and other lice who will have, like itself, colonised the fur of their hosts. This documentary, based on scientific research and fact, unites harmoniously the natural habits of these birds, who will be filmed by our team during 4 months in Hawaii, and digital images of the flea created through computer graphics.

During four years of shooting in the icy waters that surround the volcanic archipelago of the Crozet Islands, we have followed the trial and tribulations of Delphine, a young female adolescent killer whale. Living and growing within her family group she gradually learns how to find her bearings, how to hunt king penguins or Minke whales and how to get stranded in order to catch sea elephants. For the first time divers have dared to swim next to these great predators and have brought back an amazing collection of unique shots. Come and join us in the world of the Crozet Islands and their undisputed masters….To date,, this film is the only one-hour pure blue chip featuring killer whale in a unique environment. It has no equivalent and will not until a dedicated filming crew is willing to spend such a long time in a hostile environment….diving in icy cold waters while killer whale eating a minke whale, spending a full year in a remote hut waiting for the animal to visit the shores, or risking ones’ live to dive among preys while killer whale are hunting.

Meet Chinstrap, Macaroni, Adelie, Gentoo, King and… Queen. Spend a year with them in the icy waters or on the volcanic islands of the vast Southern Ocean. Do not fall from the cliff when you leave in the morning and always be certain to catch the right wave on your return home before sunset. Watch out your “friends” who are always ready to push you off the iceberg. On rocky outcrops, always keep your distances with your neighbour, at least 2 feet. Meet your partner this evening, as it is your turn to take care of your fat feathered kids for the next 15 days. Most important of all: if you want to see your family again, avoid all welcoming committees of Fur Seals and departure festivities of Leopard Seals. How does it feel to be a penguin?

In the summer, space becomes dear on the beaches of the Sub-Antartic islands. There, penguins and sea elephants live jumbled up together, caught in the throes of breeding and bringing up the little ones. Such overpopulation leads to tensions between species and individuals. The crowds of penguins and elephant seals attract many scavengers as well as dangerous predators like giant petrels, the vultures of those icy climes, and killer whales full of hunting tactics. More agile, the fur seals and the wandering albatrosses, those indefatiguable gliders, seem to escape the chaotic throng. Like the other animals, however, they are dependent on the ocean,their only source of food in these isolated lands. When winter comes, this cohabitation ends. Their breeding duties finished, the different animals return to the waters they are used to wander in.

The dolphin is still full of surprises. Group assistance, an unknown side of this charismatic animal’s behavior, is the central theme of this documentary presented as a scientific tale. Unveiling a wide range of behaviors in oceans around the globe, this initiatory voyage depicts the dolphin’s altruistic world as we follow the misadventures of one of them in search of a host group. May it be while hunting fish stranded in shallow waters in South Carolina, playing with a venomous snake in the Rangiroa lagoon, defending the group against a tiger shark attack in the Marquesas islands, parading in the crystal-clear pacific waters or surfing on waves from the bows of tankers in Texas, everything relies on the group: the dolphin needs to be surrounded by its peers to feed, defend himself, communicate and breed.

Wildlife films spy for us into the natural world and bring to the comfort of our armchairs beautiful, moving and breathtaking footage. Behind their cameras, filmmakers face mishaps, experience fears, apprehensions but also big laughs. Theirs is a world of patience, unpredictability and danger. To find out about these intense moments, let’s turn the cameras on them. Following gorillas in the forests of Rwanda, filming cheetahs chasing their prey or putting inquisitive gorillas at ease by letting them satisfy their curiosity requires great art. If filming in the wild can be a risky business in places like the African Savannah, crews also encounter hilarious situations: they must sometimes submit to the animals’ appetite for social contact. Ingenuity, compromises and acrobatic skills are often needed to capture on film several second sequences. The result is a funny and entertaining film that takes us behind the scenes and shows us what filmmakers must go through to bring us images of the natural world.

Around the Crozet Islands, here is the incredible odyssey of a family of Sperm Whales facing rapid changes in their environment. From the stormy surface to the eternal darkness of the abyss, several generations of these deep-sea divers encounter men and their “toys”: harpoons of yesterday, and fishing lines of today. Once victim of whale hunting, now accused of stealing fish, a sperm whale shares its private life with us. And what an immersion! We discover in turn its mysterious sonar, its competitors like orcas, and also the strange world of its neighbours-the deep-sea monsters. Amongst them, a revelation: the biggest squid ever filmed in its natural environment, almost 15 feet long. Come and discover the depths of the Crozet abyss… Context: this true tale of survival is shot in a rarely seen and utterly hostile corner of the Earth, the offshore waters of the Crozet islands. It took more than 7 years to gain the trust of local authorities and fishermen to film this incredible concentration of giants of the open ocean. Thanks to international scientific collaboration, the production team managed to deploy Remote Operated Vehicles in the abyss and design cameras adapted to the extreme filming conditions of the Southern seas.