Java Films

Solarmax is a 40-minute giant-screen documentary that tells the story of humankind's struggle to understand the sun. The film will take audiences on an incredible voyage from pre-history to the leading edge of today's contemporary solar science.

Ten years ago, Volodymyr Zelensky was just one of the many faces on Ukrainian television screens. He became a star thanks to the 2015 satirical series Servant of the People, in which he played a history teacher who becomes president. Four years later, what began as fiction became a reality. This French documentary follows the transformation of a popular TV comedian into a statesman on the front lines of the Russian invasion. Archival footage, family photos, television appearances, and interviews with Zelensky and those closest to him create a multi-layered portrait of a man who always longed for a large audience. At the same time, the film places his personal development in the broader context of post-Soviet Ukraine, which is also searching for its own identity.

A rich ambitious street mob lost his mind. He endanger his family members, so did his marriage. He had to pay back his fault, and look forward to that destiny was on his side.

For years now, the Kremlin has been systematically trying to use well-trained hackers for its own benefit. In exchange for freedom and protection, they do the dirty work of the state, interfering in other countries’ elections and penetrating government networks. Just how dangerous is Russia’s cyber army?

Acclaimed journalist Paul Moreira investigates how Russia manipulates public opinion, undermines democratic governments and attempts to alter world events. The public face of foreign policy: the state news channels, Sputnik and Russia Today. But working in the shadows is the hidden part: the hackers and trolls pushing the Russian agenda - The Russians know that public perception of their country has reached a new low. Russophobia is massive. Their message is tainted with illegitimacy. But how does the Russian information war machine work?

With their beautiful shopfronts and finely crafted goods, brands like Gucci, Max Mara, Louis Vuitton and Prada are seen as being the height of luxury, conjuring images of master craftsmen finely crafting each item. But - as this investigation reveals - behind the glamorous exterior, all that glitters is not gold. From Haute-Couture at Paris Fashion Week to Chinese and Italian backroom boutiques, LUXURY: BEHIND THE MIRROR investigates the hidden side of luxury.

Days after his wife was murdered during the Bataclan attacks, Antoine Leiris wrote an open letter on Facebook to his wife’s killer. It was a letter of exceptional grace and defiance, stating simply that the terrorists had failed because they would never have his hate. That message was shared hundreds of thousands of times worldwide and inspired a best selling book. Leiris sets out to meet people like him. People who are trying to rebuild their lives after terrorist attacks.

For decades, their factories secretly dumped toxic products into rivers, groundwater systems and soil. This pollution affected thousands, causing disabilities, cancers and death.

In February 2014, paramilitary groups fought against the police in the streets of Kyev and ousted President Yanukovych. They settled a new government. According to western media, they were the revolution heroes. But they are actually heavily armed extreme-right militias. The Right Sector, Azov or Svoboda created parallel irregular forces that easily go out of control. In Odessa, in May 2014, they were responsible for burning 45 people to death without facing any charges. How come western democracies haven’t raised their voice in protest? Most likely because these Ukrainian nationalist militias actually played a significant role in a much larger scale war. The Ukrainian revolution was strongly supported by the US diplomacy. In the new cold war that opposes Russia to the USA, Ukraine is a decisive pawn. A tactical pawn to contain Putin’s ambitions. “Ukraine, masks of the revolution” by Paul Moreira sheds light on this blind corner.

What China has baptized 'The New Silk Road' allows a pair of trainers to be transported by train from China to France in under two weeks. On the Horn of Africa, the Chinese state has recently set up a military port and constructed an ultra modern railway serving Ethiopia. Since 2013 the 'Middle Kingdom' has invested billions into projects like these to pave the way for Chinese expansionism.

Mica: it’s the common ingredient in cosmetic products such as nail polish, foundation, mascara and lipstick. It’s what gives them their luminosity, making them responsible for the fortune of major cosmetic groups like L’Oréal, Lancôme, Dior and Chanel. Unknown to its hundreds of millions of consumers is that most of it is filled with “dirty mica”, extracted using antiquated methods, close to slavery, in one of the poorest regions of the world: Jarkhand, India. Here, under the constant threat of landslides and toxic dust, children dig through the earth with their bare hands. Journalist Brando Barenzelli has traced the mica supply chains from the lost mines of the Indian countryside to the laboratories of major brands in Europe. He films the 8-year-old children who collect mica, and the mine owners and exporters who turn a blind eye to the deplorable working conditions.

Like the Amish, the ultra-conservative Christian community of the Mennonites reject modern society and live a life frozen in the 19th century. Nearly all Mennonites live in self-sufficient colonies, embracing isolation, which helps protect them from the temptations of the modern world. Now, for the first time, one of these communities has agreed to open their doors to our cameras.

With its reputation for being liberal and sexually-open minded, Scandinavia leads the the world when it comes to gender equality. Its empowered women are not afraid to express their desires. But is gender equality enough to ensure harmony between men and women? We go in search of the secrets of Nordic love.

In America, nearly 30% of those exonerated by DNA tests had previously confessed. For more than half a century, the Reid technique was the favored method of extracting confessions out of suspects. This method of slowly building pressure often made it seem that admitting guilt was the easiest way out. But now, a number of police forces are abandoning the Reid technique because of the risk of generating false confessions. We hear from the men and women who have spent more than 20 years in prison for crimes they did not commit. They tell us about that moment when, in the darkness of the interrogation room, cut off from the world and terrified by police officers, they finally said what the interrogators wanted to hear…the moment their lives changed forever.

Johannesburg is considered the most uranium-contaminated city in the world. Waste dumps from around 600 abandoned mines sit next to residential communities, blowing polluted dust into homes and contaminating the soil and water supplies. To get a sense of the sheer extent of the problem, Martin Boudot and his team of researchers investigate. Equipped with a Geiger counter, they uncover some dangerous realities...

When Microsoft accused ‘state-backed’ Chinese hackers of entering its servers to target at least 60,000 global users, few people were surprised. It was just the latest in a long line of Chinese cyberattacks. Growing security concerns over China has also lead to Huawei being banned or restricted from 5G networks in a host of countries, including America, UK and Australia. “There are two types of big companies: those that have been hacked by the Chinese, and those that don’t know they have been hacked by the Chinese,” claimed FBI director, James Comey in 2014. China already has the world’s largest surveillance network and uses technology to subdue minorities, censor content and spy on dissidents.

Travel agencies specialising in perilous holidays are offering organised trips to war zones and even areas struck by natural or nuclear disasters. We follow one group of tourists as they scale the mountains of Hindu-Kush in Afghanistan, climbing 4000m above sea level in order to ski down this one-of-a-kind slope. In Indonesia we see a different kind of extreme tourism, with plucky thrill-seekers invited to climb Anak Krakatoa, an erupting volcano. In Ukraine, adventurous tourists come from all over the globe to visit the dead city of Chernobyl, the site of the worst nuclear disaster in human history.