On one side, there’s the austere Iran—a land of mullahs, Shiite mosques, the cult of martyrs, and women in chadors. But behind the veil, a simmering society eager for change and modernity is emerging. It’s this paradox, this duality that we’ll discover in this ancient Persian empire. About Mythical Roads: Whether they be remote or…

With 7,000 km (4,350 miles) of coasts along the Indian Ocean, India is a continent in and of itself. We travel across some of its most important states: West Bengal, Orissa, Tamil Nadu, Kerala, and Karnataka. From Calcutta to Bangalore, we meet those helping to build the route to the India of tomorrow, to discover…

Brazil is a giant that’s too often reduced to its wild samba, its magical football, and its endless beaches. But behind this fantasy lurks an economic colossus and agricultural titan, a force of the future that is already playing a major role in this burgeoning 21st century. To get a better look at this country,…

To meet today’s nomads, the film director Sibylle d’Orgeval had to cross Kyrgyzstan, from the capital Bishkek to Lake Issyk Kul. Then through the mountains and high pastures where the shepherds live she’ll head for the south of the country. She’ll cross the Trans-Alay mountains on her way to Tajikistan in the Western Pamirs populated…

No sooner had they arrived in Mexico than the Spanish settlers discovered silver. They then constructed a road 3,000 km (about 1,900 miles) long to transport the silver extracted from the mines northward, then toward the West. A road full of hopes and riddled with pitfalls and dangers, this is the road director Christophe Cousin…

Arriving in Africa, the plane lands at night. As you step outside, you’re enveloped in the damp heat, setting off into a night of car horns, dust, and headlights. To get your bearings, you impatiently wait for the morning, when the sun rises and you can finally discover the city. The director brings us along…

Ethiopia and the Horn of Africa are a unique land of mystery, a geographic area that was the scene of great explorations and shipwrecks disasters. Even today, this part of the world fascinates us. Along the Rift Valley, the director explores this land and experiences its transformations. About Mythical Roads: Whether remote or packed with…

“The road of Livingstone” is a long journey in the footsteps of the British explorer David Livingstone on the Zambezi River from its mouth in Mozambique to the Victoria waterfalls at the border of Zambia and Zimbabwe. The roads along the Zambezi River are rare and difficult, and elephants, crocodiles, and hippopotamus stay the masters…

In this episode, the director takes us to the Philippines and visits the country by jeepney, bus, train, and boat. The archipelago reveals the wonders of the islands, in particular Luzon, Palawan, and Cebu, but also its exceptional nature: mountains formed into terraces, deep forests, coasts, beaches, and islands—a total of 7,000 large and small…

In the lands of southern Africa, we find one of the world’s oldest peoples: the Bushmen—hunter-gatherers, nomads with a tragic destiny, and today nearly extinct. When the first Europeans entered at the Cape, the Bushmen and their cousins, the Khoi, fled them and migrated ever northward. In this episode, we will follow in their footsteps…