The last displaced of Tskaltubo
Tskaltubo, a small town in western Georgia, reached fame thanks to its sanatoria. Nowadays, these gigantic jewels of soviet neo-classic architecture are falling to ruins… but they are still inhabited.
In the footsteps of the « Black Mambas »
Far away from their families, patrolling night and day and sleeping in camps with basic comfort, these women fight to preserve this invaluable natural heritage, and to encourage the next generations to take care of it.
They are the « Black Mambas »: the first all-female anti-poaching unit in South Africa.
The Second Lines of New Orleans
Forget about Mardi Gras, the tourists and weeks of festivities. Forget about the Jazz Festival and the price of the tickets. On sunday in New Orleans, it’s the Second Lines you need to follow.
1900 Lesbians are on a boat
The Caribbean in the winter, a crossroads of cruises.
One ship is noticeable, with its rainbow flag: welcome onboard the « Love Boat » reserved for women.
And God ordained the woman
In Sweden, 40% of the priests are women, and they will soon be a majority.
Meet the religious women of modern times, a revolution in the Lutheran Church.
The Kashmiri ‘half-widows’
In the conflict ridden valley of Kashmir, they’re called the half-widows. For many years, their husband have disappeared, sometimes without leaving a trace, sometimes arrested without any proof by the Indian army…
A Nomad Identity
It’s the last day of the Games and, carried by its enthusiastic supporters, the Kyrgyz Kok Boru team is beating the Kazakh team. This game of the Central Asian kind of polo, where players fight for a goat carcass, is the crown of the Nomad Games, the most spectacular of the twenty three competitions held in six days.
Those of the 5th Sotnia
I met those of the 5th Sotnia in an hostel overlooking Maidan Nezalezhnosti, in january 2014. I followed them until the destitution of president Yanukovitch, in february of the same year.
Panem et Circences
Angola, the largest prison in the US, was notorious: a former slave plantation, it was long the most violent prison in the country. Yet for half a century, thousands of visitors enter the gates of the penitentiary to attend the « Wildest Rodeo in the South ».
Queens of the asphalt
In the notorious streets of jazzy New Orleans, their engines thunder like a brass band. The « Caramel curves » is the wildest biker club of the old south.
The women miners of Breza
In Bosnia and Herzegovina, the coal mines still run at full regime. And for about 30 years, in Breza, north of Sarajevo, women also go 200 to 300 meters underground.
Trumpets not Guns
In New Orleans, the fight against violence uses brass bands. In the street corners, in the classrooms, they play an antic jazz dipped in funk. And spread the same message : trumpets, not guns.
Soatanana
The village of Soatanana, 400km south of the capital Antananarivo, in the heart of Betsileo country, is also known by the name « White Village », after the color of the villagers’ clothes. This evangelical community is unique in Madagascar : the fields belong to the community and the ressources and workload are shared.
A Hospital For Everyone
Owned by the NGO Mercy Ships, founded in 1978, the Africa Mercy is anchored on the east coast of Madagascar since october 2014. The former danish ferry will stay 20 months in Toamasina, in the country where the health is completely deficient after five years of policital transition.
The last refuge of Bohemia
At the Maison Nationale des Artistes, in Nogent sur Marne, the residents are painters, musicians, actors, sculptors. And with their great age, they keep a free spirit, despite the challenges of the years…
Holot, the Desert Prisonners
They travelled thousands of kilometres, suffered from hunger, thirst, crossed the Sinai desert in Egypt, to end up in another desert, the Negev, in Israel. In the middle of nowhere, surrounded by rocks and short bushes, the detention center of Holot opened in December 2013.
The Children of Utopia
With the hope of a better society: fairer, egalitarian and zionist, the first kibbutz was born in Degania in 1909 in Palestine. Nowadays, 2% of the israeli population still lives in a kibbutz, producing 8% of the national production.
US : The Fields of Shame
« Every time you eat a salad, you eat a vegetable, you’ve got to have in mind that, maybe, they’ve been harvested by children ». These words haven’t been uttered by a furious NGO director, but by actress Eva Longoria, who, for years, has been fighting against child labor in US agriculture.
Sweden : First Call to Prayer
A friday, in early spring. While early believers already gathered inside the mosque, many others are rushing out as they hear the first notes of the call to prayer of the muezzin. We are in Fittja, a suburb south of Stockholm, and this is the first adhan (call to prayer) that rises in the Swedish sky. [April 2013]
A School for Vikram
In India, millions of children have to work. Vikram, 11 years old, is lucky enough to benefit from a law, forcing private schools to welcome 25% poor children. [nov. 2011]
Weddings Without Confessions
“A civil marriage not a civil war! ” While the youth from Tunis, Benghazi and Cairo were fighting against their dictator, the one from Beirut was marching this spring for… the right to get civilly married. As a matter of fact, in Lebanon, getting married is also a political issue. Indeed, in this small country of 4 million people, 18 religious communities are sharing the political power proportionally to their demographic size. [May 2011]
Sleepless in Beirut
Beirut isn’t what you think. It’s not only this city scarred by years of civil war or bombings. It can’t be summarized by its poor neighborhoods in the south, where the shi’ia militia is most popular. Beirut also reveals itself at night. [oct. 2010]
The New Promised Land of the Israeli
Every year, after long and hard years in the military, between 30 000 and 40 000 young israeli go abroad. Their principal destination: India. Their program? Chilling out. [dec. 2010]
Love Commandos
In India, those who love each other despite their caste or religion risk being killed by their families. There are thousands of such honor crimes each year. Fortunately, the young couples can now count on the help of the very secretive Love Commandos… [nov.-dec. 2010]