Democracy is an illusion! It’s become a political system fostered by the élite, for the élite, in order to fool the people that they have a stake in the system. In actual fact, they have virtually none. The whole political system in the modern era, despite having noble beginnings, is now used to benefit the few at the expense of the many. – Mark Alexander, June 29, 2018
August 5, 2026 | As Apple turns 50, this film tells the story of the tech company that revolutionized our world, along with its opportunities and downsides. Has this tool of liberation become an instrument of control?
Founded 50 years ago, Apple grew from a counterculture movement into a global corporation. The film looks back at the breathtaking rise of headstrong visionary Steve Jobs, who never gave up on his dream despite fierce competition, his destructive perfectionism and even his ousting from his own company.
Colleagues and companions shine light on the expertise behind Apple: designer Hartmut Esslinger created Apple's legendary 'Snow White' design language, and typographer Erik Spiekermann developed ground-breaking typefaces. People like Daniel Kottke, a former flat mate of Steve Jobs and one of the first Apple employees, share insights into the inner workings of the legendary team. Andy Cunningham, who was sacked by Jobs a total of five times, also weighs in.
March 22, 2024 | Máxima of the Netherlands - She works to ensure that poor people have access to financial services, better consumer protection and more financial literacy.
Premiered Jun 23, 2026 | From directors Abby Martin and Matt Belen, Cuba After Castro delivers the definitive portrait of Miguel Díaz-Canel, Cuba’s first leader born after the Revolution. Through this unprecedented in-depth interview we see a vision of revolutionary Cuba suppressed in the west: a nation of collective values and defiance in the face of constant threats from the United States.
The film chronicles Diaz-Canel’s formation as an unexpected successor to the Castros — an unassuming organizer molded by the revolutionary process. Confronting a perfect storm of intensified U.S. sanctions, a media war, a devastating pandemic, and historic domestic protests. Díaz-Canel reflects on navigating these existential crises for the nation he has come to lead.
Jan 1, 2026 | Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, also known as MBS, is the de facto ruler of Saudi Arabia. For almost a decade, he has been radically transforming the country — at a breath-taking pace.
Where is the modernizer and despot steering the kingdom?
Saudi Arabia is the world's leading exporter of crude oil. But Crown Prince MBS wants to prepare the country for the post-oil era.
Two-thirds of the country's population is under 30 years old, and the crown prince is taking radical measures to turn the previously strictly conservative society on its head.
The documentary shows how contradictory Mohammed bin Salman's ambitions for his "Vision 2030" are, as it takes a look behind the scenes of the transformation.
On the one hand, there is the "Neom" project, which aims to create a futuristic new megacity in the desert. Tourism is to be expanded, major music and sporting events are to be brought to the country, and an extravagant lifestyle is being promoted.
At the same time, an authoritarian style of government continues to prevail, dissidents are sometimes brutally suppressed, and women's rights are still not fully granted - even if the influence of the ultra-conservative religious leaders of Wahhabism is no longer as strong as it once was.
May 22, 2026 | In the 1950s, Spain under Francisco Franco entered a new phase known as the “Leaden Age.” After years of international isolation following World War II in 1945, the regime began to regain legitimacy. Key agreements, such as the 1953 Pact of Madrid with the United States and the 1955 admission of Spain to the United Nations, marked a turning point in Franco’s foreign policy and international standing.
These developments brought economic opportunities and a sense of stability to the country. While Spain appeared to move forward, political opposition weakened and resistance largely disappeared. Behind this controlled progress, Franco’s dictatorship remained firmly in place. This period reveals how international recognition and economic change helped secure the long-term survival of one of Europe’s most enduring authoritarian regimes.
Margaret Thatcher: The Iron Lady - From her humble beginnings as a grocer's daughter, Margaret Thatcher fought her way through the sexist prejudices of the 1970s to become the first female Prime Minister of the United Kingdom in 1979.
Margaret Thatcher: The Iron Lady (2012)
Director: Alan Byron
Stars: Tony Benn, Gyles Brandreth, Michael Brunson
Genre: Documentary, Biography, History
Country: United Kingdom
Language: English
Release Date: August 24, 2012 (United States)
Mar 25, 2026 | November 1979: The United States impose their first embargo on Iran in response to staff at their embassy in Tehran being taken hostage.
Today, relationships between Tehran and Washington continue to deteriorate and the Iranian economy is suffering under the weight of US sanctions. Inflation, unemployment, trafficking of medicines, and ration coupons – the Iranian people are paying a heavy price. But how do the Iranians survive under the heavy burden of this embargo? And just who is benefiting from it?
From Washington to Tehran, via Brussels, Paris, and Tel Aviv, this geopolitical documentary takes us behind the scenes of this shadow war and retrace the deployment of the US sanctions on Iran since they began.
With testimony from political leaders and economics experts from Europe, Iran, and America, along with extensive archive footage, this film questions the political effectiveness of these sanctions and reveals the input they are having on diplomacy and trade today.
Documentary: Embargo, Iran and the Sanctions
Directed by: Magali Serre
Production: ARTLINE PRODUCTION (2020)
Feb 27, 2026 | Edwardian Britain was the richest empire in the world. But behind the power of the crown stood millions of workers.
For the first time, rare archival footage from 1901–1914 has been carefully colorized, revealing the real faces of miners, dockworkers, factory girls, market porters, and children whose labour built modern Britain. From Queen Victoria’s funeral to the mills of Lancashire, from London’s docks to Blackpool’s seaside resorts, this is the story of a nation at its industrial peak — just years before the First World War would change everything.
Documentary: Edwardian Britain in Colour EP:1
Directed by: Alison Grist
Production: MAKE WAVES Ltd production for channel 5 [London & Singapore] [MW]
Mar 3, 2025 | Four Corners investigative journalist Dan Oakes uncovers the secrets of Australia’s black-market tobacco trade in Tobacco Wars.
With illicit cigarettes readily available in cash-only stores and distributed by unmarked vans across the country, this investigation reveals a vast network stretching from Melbourne’s suburban tobacconists to international smuggling routes.
Using concealed cameras and exclusive access to law enforcement, the Four Corners team follows the illicit pipeline, exposing the lucrative industry that is fuelling organised crime while robbing the government of billions in lost revenue.
Tobacco Wars investigates the high-stakes underworld where arson attacks, extortion, and deadly feuds are used to control the illegal cigarette market.
As the government grapples with policy responses and law enforcement agencies struggle to disrupt smuggling syndicates, Tobacco Wars raises urgent questions about the country’s ability to curb this thriving illicit trade.
Nov 2, 2025 | 1929: The biggest economic crisis of the 20th century brought an abrupt end to the euphoria of the Roaring Twenties. Driven from their land, the farmers of the Great Plains were forced to abandon everything they had. They became migrants in their own country and were treated as such by the vast Californian estates. They became the symbol of an America confronted by its own reality.
Built on the work of the iconic photographers of the Great Depression - Dorothea Lange, Walker Evans, and Arthur Rothstein - this full archive documentary analyzes the consequences of the economic collapse in the United States and provides a unique take on the failure of the American model.
Documentary: An American Depression (2019)
Directed by Sylvain Desmille
Production: Les Batelières Productions pour LCP & Toute l’Histoire
Jan 27, 2026 | Long before the economic meltdown in the U.S. that led to the Great Recession, one woman tried to raise the alarm about the threat to the financial system.
“The Warning” unearthed the hidden history of the worst financial crisis since the Great Depression in the United States. Brooksley Born spoke for the first time on television about her failed campaign to regulate the secretive, multitrillion-dollar derivatives market whose crash helped trigger the financial collapse in the fall of 2008.
“We didn’t truly know the dangers of the market, because it was a dark market,” said Born, who was the head of an obscure federal regulatory agency — the Commodity Futures Trading Commission [CFTC]. Born not only warned of the potential for economic meltdown in the late 1990s, but also tried to convince the country’s key economic powerbrokers to take actions that could have helped avert the crisis.
The documentary also revealed an intense battle among high-ranking members of former President Bill Clinton’s administration and uncovered a concerted effort not to regulate the emerging, highly complex, and lucrative derivatives markets, which became a ticking time-bomb within the American economy.
Feb 7, 2025 | Crown Prince of Saudi Arabia, Mohammed bin Salman (known as MBS), at only 34 years old, leads a state in Western Asia with immense oil reserves that significantly impact the global economy. This country is also home to Islam's holiest sites and remains the world's largest arms buyer. Accused of orchestrating the brutal assassination of a journalist and the kidnapping of a foreign Prime Minister, engaged in a bloody war in Yemen, and determined to counter Iran at all costs, MBS is also a key partner in the fight against terrorism and is implementing spectacular reforms that are reshaping his kingdom.
Oct 23, 2025 | Lebanon, the former “Switzerland of the Middle East”, stands on the brink of becoming a failed state. Years of civil war, border conflicts and corrupt government has left the country bankrupt and spiralling into chaos. The Beirut port explosion reduced the capital to tatters and exposed the utter failure of sectarianism politics. Lebanon now finds itself more vulnerable than ever to foreign influence, once again a key stake for international powers playing out their broader ambitions across the Mideast. But in this deeply divided country, a young generation is ready to battle for reform.
At the supermarkets in Beirut, hyperinflation has led to the food changing price every day. Lilian, 24, hoped to become a diplomat but the economic crisis forced her to quit her studies. Now she is has joined the protest movement and pawns her clothes to buy food. The man most people blame for this desperate situation is Riad Salameh, head of the central bank for the past three decades and accused of embezzling close to a billion dollars. The IMF and World Bank has offered to bail out Lebanon if the central bank opens up its account books. Something that Salameh – with the support of the whole political class – absolutely refuses to do.
Yet economic collapse isn’t the only cause of the country’s woes. In southern Lebanon, safety risks along the border with Israel are a main source of instability. This is a stronghold for Hezbollah, which operates as a state within a state, providing for every aspect of daily life in exchange for absolute loyalty. Further north, the Bekaa valley is the other Hezbollah stronghold. But it is also home to one of Lebanon’s most serious problems the Syrian refugee crisis. The mass arrival of 1.5 million Syrian refugees has further destabilised a nation long distrustful of Syria. Everything is done to hide the Syrian problem. Large international NGO are prevented from working here and the refugees themselves, like 12-year-old Abdelfateh, are forced to slave long hours to survive.
No population census has been held for decades in Lebanon to avoid threatening the fragile balance of sectarian powers. But the sunnis are convinced they form the largest section of the population.They feel oppressed and increasingly look towards Saudi Arabia or Turkey’s Muslim brotherhood for help. But despite everything, people like Lilian are determined to confront these endemic problems. “My destiny is to stay here and engage in political action…. The proverb “Lebanese love life” is very true, we love life despite everything!”
This documentary was produced by Kaliste Productions and directed by Alfred de Montesquiou. It was first released in 2021.
Secrets Of The World’s Richest Woman - This is the story of a small business that rose to epitomize beauty and glamour, shaped by a family whose wealth, secrets, and public controversies mirror the profound shifts and shadows of the 20th century.
Secrets Of The World’s Richest Woman EP 1 (2017)
Director: Gérard Miller & Jacques Dubuisson
Writer: Gérard Miller & Anais Feuillette
Genre: Documentary
Country: France
Language: English
Release Date: September 22, 2017 (France)
Synopsis:
The incredible journey of a small business that became the archetype of beauty and glamour is embodied through the extraordinary personalities who propelled its success, starting with its founder, Eugène Schueller—the father of Liliane Bettencourt. It’s the story of a remarkable family, so wealthy and mysterious, woven with achievements and unspoken secrets, a reverence for discretion alongside public scandals. A sweeping saga, worthy of a Balzacian novel, that takes us through the 20th century, with its sociological and aesthetic upheavals, as well as its darkest periods.
Oct 18, 2023 | The Rise of Poverty in Europe | ENDEVR Documentary from 2017
119 million people in Europe live under the breadline today. How could this happen? The reality of deprived children, unemployed young adults, and indigent workers spreads all around the Union. What does Europe do for them? Visiting young unemployed people in Ireland, Italy and Portugal, this film investigates beyond the social and economic aspects and outlines how this situation impacts the politics.
ENDEVR explains the world we live in through high-class documentaries, special investigations, explainers videos and animations. We cover topics related to business, economics, geopolitics, social issues and everything in between that we think are interesting.
Aug 26, 2023 | On Planet Finance, there is a market for almost anything. Even for a future disaster that has not yet occurred and may never happen. As the risks of climate change pile up, it appears that money can be made in the Disaster Bond Market on the risk of future wildfires, floods and hurricanes. There is speculation on what the probability is that a catastrophe will occur. And especially on how much damage it might cause. How does this market work? And who are the winners and who are the losers?
In this six-part documentary series, Marije Meerman takes you to Planet Finance. Who live and work there? What language do they speak? What is the use of this planet, and what makes this financial world so attractive to so many people?
Aug 19, 2023 | Although the financial industry in China is still in its infancy, 7% of Chinese people are already investing, and millions more are being added every month. Western investors are also lining up to benefit from China's economic growth. For years, Wall Street gave China wide latitude to raise money on the international capital market, such as with Jack Ma's Alibaba IPO. In 2020, when Ma also wanted to take his new company Ant Group public he no longer did so on Wall Street but simultaneously in Shanghai and Hong Kong. That plan strained the relationship between China and Planet Finance. By whose rules will the game ultimately be played?
Aug 12, 2023 | Planet Finance is a mostly unknown, adventurous and also attractive world for the private investor. In Japan, you won't get interest on your savings for decades. Entering the currency market is then a low-threshold step. 'Ms. Watanabe' is a collective name for the one and a half million Japanese individuals in this market and a household name in the shiny towers of Planet Finance. But in the foreign exchange market, the value of one currency always rises or falls against another. Where one wins, by definition someone else loses. It's a Zero Sum Game. Who wins when you lose?