Dschungel Berlin 1978

Imagine the prison of Alcatraz, only 10 times worse, built on tropical, hellish and deadly islands, lost to the rest of the world. Three tiny castaway islands rise away from the coast of French Guyana, in South America: The Devil's Islands. Now buried under an impenetrable jungle, lay the lost remains of what had been for a hundred years the most storied convict prison in history. There, while most of the prisoners faded into oblivion, a few became legends. Some because they were innocent, as in the scandalous Dreyfus Affair, some because they somehow escaped the islands of nightmare, as did the "butterfly", Henry Charrière, immortalized by Steve McQueen in Papillon. Now 50 years after the prison doors slammed shut for the last time, we explore what's left of the Devil's Islands' unbelievably dark and oppressive realm.

In the heart of Borneo's rainforests, one of the oldest and most biodiverse ecosystems on Earth, lives the orangutan, arguably the largest tree dweller. The main story is about mother ape Sati and her one-and-a-half-year-old daughter Huyan on their journey through the jungle, while at the Sepilok Orangutan Rehabilitation Centre, orphaned and rescued young animals are given a chance at a new life in the wild. But their habitat is threatened by radical deforestation and palm oil plantations. This impressive documentary shows these endangered great apes at eye level for the first time. With the help of innovative drone technology an insight into the dizzying treetops of the jungle giants was, achieved where they mostly stay. It discovering the secret lives of these extraordinary animals with insightful footage and partly some scenes never before seen. Unforgettable images illustrate why protecting the rainforests is crucial for the orangutans and the future of our planet.

Expedition into the Amazon river and its rain forests

This 2004 documentary by Werner Herzog diaries the struggle of a passionate English inventor to design and test a unique airship during its maiden flight above the jungle canopy.

A documentary exploring the ruins of a Mayan temple in Mexico and a "cursed" medallion that was found there.

Dragan Wende has lived in Berlin since the '70s and has seen the city change through the years. His nephew comes to live with him as Dragan remembers the better days he lived as a Yugoslavian immigrant in a divided city.

American animal trapper Frank Buck travels with Ali, his "number one boy," on an expedition into the Malayan jungle. From their jungle headquarters just north of Singapore, Frank, Ali and a team of native helpers roam the area from Northern Johore to Perak in search of interesting wild animals, reptiles and birds. Hoping to find a tiger, Buck captures a monitor lizard and a black leopard, while another black leopard narrowly escapes an encounter with a giant python and then battles a bigger and stronger tiger. After trapping a spotted leopard, Frank adopts a baby honey bear and a baby elephant. The team catches an orangutan, but the tiger eludes their camouflaged pit. Meanwhile, Frank visits the "bathing festival" of a local tribe and watches as tribesmen kill an intruding spotted leopard with blow darts. The tiger then meets an enormous regal python, who has just crushed a crocodile, and fights to a draw with it.

The wild West Berlin of the 1980s became the creative melting pot of pop subcultures: music, art and chaos. Before the Iron Curtain fell, anything and everything seemed possible.

Elephants disrupt the lives of a family deep in the jungles of Northern Siam, and an entire village.

A New Yorker journeys to the jungle in the Darien Gap of Panama to reconnect with an indigenous tribe he met and photographed 20 years ago. Their reunion highlights the profound power of photos and the human connection that transcends cultural barriers.

Werner Herzog returns to the South American jungle with Juliane Koepcke, the German woman who was the sole survivor of a plane crash there in 1971. They find the remains of the plane and recreate her journey out of the jungle.

It is thanks to this film that the Marquis gained notoriety with a wider audience. The film is the result of film footage shot between May 1926 and June 1930 in several South American countries. Departing from Guayaquil, he first went to the Galapagos Islands in the Pacific. Upon returning to the capital of Ecuador, chance brought him to the Ocaina Indians, the Boro, the Napo, the Jivaro and the Piro. He explored the Incan mines of Machu Picchu, discovered only a few years prior, and ended his journey on the famed Guano islands. The musical score, inspired by traditional Indian music, was created by Maurice Jaubert.

Christmas Island, Australia is home to one of the largest land migrations on earth—that of forty million crabs journeying from jungle to sea. But the jungle holds another secret: a high-security facility that indefinitely detains individuals seeking asylum.

A documentary about environment destruction in the Amazon and the tribes living there. Produced for the 48th anniversary of MBC, Korea. A brilliant records of the itinerary for 250 days through the Amazon.

Peru is a country of many contrasts. From the cold waters of the Coast over the 6000 m high Andes to the unique biodiversity of the Amazon Jungle. Peru isn't only Machu Picchu. It's much more.