(6x45 min). When the migrant crisis in Europe upsets the destinies of a gallery of characters. Between Greece, Germany and France, a lucid and humanistic fresco in six episodes, anchored in reality.

A frail boat of migrants lands on a Greek beach. This is the starting point for several stories that intertwine across Europe: In Athens, Amare and his brother Daniel are welcomed in a camp run by Hélène, a businesswoman who defends a project of private management of refugee flows; in Mannheim, Germany, Silke and Jürgen decide to take in a young Syrian, Bassam, which upsets their son Florian; in Paris, Hamid and Maryam ask for political asylum, helped by a journalist who investigates the abuses of Bashar el-Assad's regime. Soon, Daniel and Amare try to escape to England...

A demand for veracity
The result of a collaboration between ARTE's French and German divisions and the ARD Group, Eden tackles the issue of refugee reception through five stories and a dozen protagonists in three European countries. This diversity of moods and situations gives the series a breadth commensurate with its subject. How to welcome? How to integrate? The fluidity of the narrative, supported by an equal interest in all the characters, allows us to grasp these questions in all their complexity. Dominik Moll, who is used to disturbing stories bordering on the fantastic (Harry, a friend who wishes you well, Lemming...), changes register to compose a fresco anchored in reality, which allows for romantic flights of fancy and a few points of wry humour. The choice of actors, sets and the diversity of languages spoken testify to a demand for veracity free of any moralism, in the wake of fragile, courageous and moving characters who give life to a lucid and humane observation.

Summary for official catalogues