Bernard Mathieu

It was long believed that animals only played to learn, only mated to reproduce and only took drugs by accident. But sometimes, they just do it for fun! Research has revealed that animals seek for pleasure just like humans do, and that there are many ways in which they enjoy themselves. Did you know that rats loved to play hide-and-seek? That primates played erotic games to ease tensions within their groups? Or that reindeers were quite fond of hallucinogenic mushrooms? Scientists show that this quest for pleasure – as wild as it can get – might even be a key of evolution and biodiversity! Combining the testimonies of international ethologists, scientific archives and sequences showing the animals in their natural habitats, this unusual documentary reveals the complexity of animal pleasure.

Who knows about springtails? And among those for whom this name rings a bell, how many have already seen them? Yet, these small animals, similar to insects, are present in all terrestrial ecosystems. Springtails are undisputed soil regulators. Scientists recognize them today as absolutely essential, especially in the search for pollutants, disruptors, and all the variations that affect our soils, but this little animal is almost unknown. Thanks to extremely precise cameras, as close as possible to these microscopic animals, a teeming life is revealed before our eyes. According to the seasons, the film invites us to get into the intimacy of the springtails, to discover their morphology, their role and their usefulness in the ecosystems of the planet while rubbing shoulders with other organisms in the same environments.

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The Surmas live in the Kibish River Valley, in southern Ethiopia, where modern man was born 195,000 years ago. They hold up the mirror to us of a past in which we can recognize ourselves, despite the geographical and cultural distance. This semi-nomadic people who depend on livestock is not well known. Traditional donga fighting, a duel with sticks, earned them a reputation for brutality which keeps outsiders at a distance. In fact, the donga is a martial art that celebrates values necessary for survival in a region torn by tribal warfare. This nation of 28,000 souls possesses nothing other than its livestock. Its impoverished condition is an art of extreme living that commands respect.

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