Doclights

November 5, 2024 is election day and the USA is facing a momentous decision linked to the questions: Will Kamala Harris succeed in becoming the first woman President of the USA? Or will Donald Trump return to the White House? What consequences would a Trump victory have for the USA, the world and especially for Germany? Ingo Zamperoni, together with filmmaker Birgit Wärnke, embarks on a multifaceted journey through a country that seems more irreconcilable and polarized than ever before. The well-known Tagesthemen anchorman discusses the election-deciding issues such as inflation, migration, abortion and the Ukraine war during visits to members of his partly American family and their acquaintances, but also with celebrities such as pop star and Trump friend Kid Rock, football legend Jürgen Klinsmann, who lives in California, and the former commander of the US Army in Europe, Ben Hodges.

Spend a year with a Red Panda named Tashi and experience her life in the forests underneath the Himalayas. Along the way, meet the other rare bird, insect and animal inhabitants of this remote lush area in Northern India, including the leopard. And if cute could get even cuter, meet Tashi's cub...

It was one of the greatest natural disasters of all time. On the morning of Boxing Day 2004, a massive tsunami hit the coast of the Indian Ocean. More than 230,000 people died, including many holidaymakers from Germany and France. On the occasion of the 20th anniversary, survivors tell their stories. How has the disaster affected their lives to this day?

Migration is one of the great phenomena of the natural world. When it’s time to move some take to the skies or the oceans, but the migrants we know best are found in the awe-inspiring herds running across our planet.

For carnivores a few bites of nutrient-rich meat can last you for days, so it's worth putting in a lot of effort and taking a certain amount of risk. All predators are therefore inherently in competition. With this in mind, it's no surprise that lions and spotted hyenas aren't exactly "best friends"! Lions and hyenas have a fundamental problem with each other that goes far beyond “normal competition”: both hunt the same prey in the same habitat and are therefore each other's fiercest evolutionary rivals. And because both are very powerful in combat - each in their own way - this competition is always latently deadly. The stuff that dramas are made of...

The culture of Japan is incredible, from bloom festivals to ultra-modern cities. But there are also more than 130 mammals and 600 bird species dwelling in Japan’s 6,852 islands. This island chain is long enough to span climate zones, providing a huge range of habitat.

The hunters of Africa come out of their hiding places at night. They slept most of the time during the day to avoid the heat. But now their time has come. They are equipped with “super senses” that enable them to find their prey in complete darkness while staying invisible themselves. Lions, leopards and hyenas are the ultimate rulers of the night, but they all have different hunting strategies. Leopards sneak up to their prey like phantoms and attack in the last moment, while lions try to ambush their next meal and take it down as a team. Hyenas are long distance athletes and hunt their victims to exhaustion. All of this would be left in the dark, if not for extremely light sensitive lenses and thermal cameras. Thanks to this modern technique, we are able to get a unique view into the secret world of Africa’s hunters of the night.

We live on an ever-moving planet, and as landscapes are altered, wildlife must march to its rhythm. Driven by instinct, they follow the maps hardwired into their DNA. Some run, some fly, but most swim.

It covers thirty percent of the Earth's land mass and yet, most of us barely scratch the surface. Now, discover what few people have seen, as The Green Planet follows the stories of forest inhabitants, from graceful red deer to cunning foxes and impressive wild boar. With cutting edge technology, we also explore some of the more bizarre and wonderful forest dwellers: the purple emperor, liverworts, stag beetles and corydalis. See flowers bloom and blades of grass cut through the snow. Spend time in a foxes den with her new born cubs and follow tiny insects and creatures with microscopic detail. Be a part of a journey that takes you through the seasons and be prepared to be amazed by the natural wonder of creation, destruction and rebirth in this incomparable landscape.

Half of all bird species undertake annual migrations, everything from heavy-bodied swans to delicate hummingbirds. Migration is one of the most remarkable phenomena on the planet, hosts of animals of all shapes and sizes demonstrating incredible feats of endurance.

Explore the wetlands of southwestern Germany, where wildlife is returning to the many ponds after suffering from coal mining.

Prejudices, ignorance, and racism still leave their mark on the everyday life of black Germans, respectively Europeans, until today. How do Afro-Germans deal with their history? Which colonial-racist patterns still shape our society today? With insights into various historic epochs, it is made clear that THE history of the Black people does not exist. And neither exists THE history of white people.

Explore a lesser-known part of Venice: the wild side! In coral reefs and hidden gardens, find everything from poisonous mammals to strange sea life.

Meet Dot, the little wild horse foal. She is a Przewalski's horse: the only true wild horse species of the world. Although the origin of this endangered species is in Mongolia, Dot lives in the heart of Europe, on the grassy plains of Hungary called the "Puszta". 25 years ago some were introduced here and the horses instantly formed an organic connection with this magical land with rich and unique wildlife. Today this is one of the largest Przewalski's horse herds on the planet. This is their story.

If Australia makes you think of beaches and BBQs, cricket, and cork hats, you haven’t seen anything yet. Giant deserts, ancient rainforest, tropical coasts, and mystical rock formations. Not to mention, some of the weirdest and most wonderful animals on the planet.