How do we live in Europe? What do we really know about our ´fellow countrymen´? With its partners, Franco-German channel ARTE inaugurated an ambitious collection of twenty documentaries which explore the lives of various inhabitants of the European Union. Be they squatters, ministers, farmers or holidaymakers, they were followed by young film-makers from their country equipped only with a basic digital camera. These are entertaining portraits which both arouse our curiosity and encourage reflection, sometimes with a provocative and ironic tone.

Love and regrets : Grr.. Europe!
The final part of the continuing adventures of three French squatters living in London. Will Saïd, very much a lady´s man, be able to tame and win back Sophie´s heart, as she accepts a job as a waitress in a French restaurant? Will Gaby & or Stone, his stage name & find a place to play his French rap? How will he provide for his son, a baby whose birth was shrouded in secrecy? What´s more, he has his share of worries: he was arrested after stealing a motorbike, and wonders how he can avoid conviction.

A fistful of euros : Grr...Europe !
Thanassis is a small-time carpenter. On the edge of a mountain village in northern Greece, a characteristic sign can be found which shows that the EU has participated in building a road. The less-developed regions of Europe can in fact benefit from numerous grants. In this case, the road being built will connect the coast to a ski resort. In order to oppose the project, Thanassis battles alone. He is fundamentally convinced that the completion of this road will bring about an ecological disaster. At the other end of the EU, in northern Sweden, the implementation of another project concerns a community living in isolation. Here, we are in reindeer country, and it is common practice to use the helicopter, motorbike and snow scooter to gather the herd together. Helena is one of the Sami, a formerly nomadic people who today still rear reindeer in order to live. The Sami lead their herds close to the Norwegian border, and allow them to hibernate on the forest plains. In order to herd the reindeer, Helena prefers dogs to their motorized substitutes. She benefited from a grant of £80,000 to buy, rear and train dogs to do this job, which aroused surprise and worry in her community.

Last Tango in Carlsfeld : Grr.. Europe!
After the reunification of the two German states, the former East Germany was the first country of the Soviet bloc to join the European Union. Ten years on, and despite the substantial financial support of German taxpayers, the unemployment rate in the former GDR is still twice as high as in the richer Lander in the west of the country. Robert plays the bandoneon and comes from the town of Carlsfeld, at the former border between the two Germanies, from where his instrument originates. With unemployment at over 20%, choosing a career is far from easy in this small town. Unlike his friends who turned towards the prosperous west, Robert wants to remain faithful to his roots, and has decided to try his hand at bandoneon making. In light of the fact that 20% of the EU´s unemployed are young people, with or without diplomas, the future does not look so bright for Robert´s friends either. By 2004, the European Union will include four new states from the former Soviet bloc. With a total population of over 65 million inhabitants, these new members still have some way to go before reaching even East Germany´s economic levels.

European wager : Grr...Europe!
Parallel portraits of two economic immigrants: a Dutch farmer who dreams of Poland and a Romanian illegal worker who tries to go to Italy.
Henk is a Dutch farmer who cannot really see much of a future for he and his family in Great Britain. An economic immigrant, he has only one thing on his mind & to move to Poland and buy a farm there. At least in Poland there are no milk quotas. At the same time, Robert, a Romanian, can no longer afford to meet his family´s needs, and so attempts to get into Austria illegally so he can cross the border to Italy, where he hopes to find work.

The March for Hope : Grr... Europe!                          
In France, going out into the streets to demonstrate is a tradition. Thierry Temine is one of the founders of a lobby for the unemployed. In March, he and his comrades joined a march from Brussels to Cologne, swelling the ranks of the other demonstrators. This film charts their progress as they march on for kilometer after kilometer, but also by train or bus, traveling through Europe to protest in the name of the EU´s forgotten marginals. 30,000 people converged on Cologne; anti-NATO militants, Italian, Danish, French and German communists, Africans demanding a work permit, Kurds who came in support of their imprisoned leader, an Indian rural movement, and countless other pressure groups. For Thierry and his friends, the road to their destination was rich in twists and turns.

Good ideas don´t grow on trees : Grr... Europe!
In the beginning, it was Nadine´s idea. Christian, her husband, thought that it would sell like hotcakes, and Claude, a friend, thought about how the project could be made into reality. In France, if you possess an entrepreneurial spirit, then inventing a digital level to help garden apprentices cut hedges straight is not such a tall order. 185,000 new companies are created every year in the European Union, but after five years, half of them have thrown in the towel. We follow three inventors who are in search of funding and leads for their new gadget, firstly in France and then in the rest of the European Union.

A wine romance : Grr... Europe!
This story unravels in a French Provencal vineyard, its protagonists are modern Europeans, and its subject is the way they communicate thanks to wine. The main characters are Mr. Knapp, a multi-lingual architect and the vineyard´s owner from Baden-Baden in Germany; Madame Françoise, the share cropper´s wife, who puts as much energy into doing work as criticizing her European contemporaries. Toby is working grape-picking for Mr. Knapp during his gap year. His father, George, never lost for words, is a lover of great wines and a specialist in European business. He was previously an advisor to Lady Thatcher, when she was Prime Minister. Their routes take us across Europe, from the grousing grape-pickers to the social niceties of George´s cocktail parties, from Parisian restaurants to the conclaves of German management. This European-flavored farce will undoubtedly raise a smile with all those who enjoy good food, good wine and a good controversy.

Next stop Paradise : Grr.. Europe!
Not every tourist who visits a Greek island falls in love with the way of life there to the point of looking for their soul mate. However, on Skyros, 15 German women have married goatherds, thus giving up the comfort of life in Northern Europe to embrace a dream made of hard toil, shared by men of few words and marked by the changing seasons. At the same time, at the other end of Europe, in the boreal landscapes kissed by the midnight sun where old American cars roam free, two couples share a sauna right in the middle of a lake, and talk about their place in the world. Their town may well have the highest suicide rate in Europe, offering no work or prospects for the future, but it is still their town, and they would not leave it for anything in the world..

You´ve either got it : Grr... Europe!
In 1998, the EU amended the Treaty of Rome and classified animals in the category of ´sensitive´ beings. A clause was however added stipulating that the EU must respect the culture and tradition of each member state. Bullfighting thus became a protected activity in the name of national culture. In Spain, the homeland of bullfighting, this activity is a veritable industry. Almost every Spanish town has its own bullring, 200,000 people earn their living thanks to it, and 80 million tickets are sold every year, generating turnover in excess of 600 million euros. The most famous matadors can receive up to 80,000 per bull. Bullfighting is just as popular in neighboring Portugal and in the south of France. But it is much more difficult for a Frenchman to break into the juicy Spanish market. Juan Bautista,17, is the eldest son of an illustrious French matador. His family live in the Camargues region. Juan is following in the footsteps of his father, who pulls out all the stops to make sure his son carries the torch to Spain. Juan will rise to the challenge this year. He is to spend 10 days touring Spain and the south of France & a 4,000-mile trip & in the hope of convincing his peers and the public at large. If he succeeds, he will become a ´matador de toros´, or bull killer, with a glittering career before him.

Illegal traveler : Grrr! Europe!
We follow the fortunes of a resourceful young man, determined to leave his Soviet roots for a better life in the West. Yuli is from Ukraine, but he has managed to obtain a Latvian passport and a tourist visa for Germany, valid for three months. To the German authorities, he claims to be an orphaned Chechen refugee with no papers. He claims he is 15, although he is in fact 22. In accordance with European law, the Germans are obliged to give him accommodation, food and education, while his asylum claim is dealt with. He thus finds himself in a children´s residence. The State gives him 220 euros pocket money per month. But Yuli is disillusioned with the EU. It is not what he thought it would be, but he loves traveling, and wants to jump at every chance to see how life is lived elsewhere in Europe. The Schengen agreements, signed by all the member states except Great Britain and Ireland, allow people to circulate freely within the Union. Although he claims to be a refugee, he still has a passport and a visa. He decides to go and have a look around Paris, then phones a friend in the Canary Islands to find out if things are better out there than in Germany. His visa is nearing expiry, and so he must return to Poland and see if he can obtain a new visa for Germany. This he manages to do, and arrives in Berlin in the company of a group of Mongolian immigrants, who shoplift vodka and sell it in the street. He gets enough money together to take a flight to the Canary Islands, still part of the EU, and there he meets up with his friend Tolya, who puts him in the picture. He finds a job as a handyman in the employ of a rich German lady, living high in the hills will he stay or will he go? And where will his next destination be?

Games without frontiers : Grrr! Europe!
For a year, we follow the fortunes of Starbreeze, a group of young IT maniacs who live in the far north of Sweden. They hope to hit the jackpot by creating a video game inspired by Scandinavian mythology. In order to develop the game, Gremlins, a British company, gives them £500,000. But the gaming research and marketing sector, which generates more income than the Hollywood film industry, remains indifferent to their ambitions. Gremlins is bought over by French company Infograms, the number one in European gaming. The development of Starbreeze´s game is delayed time and again, and despite encouraging rumors of a Hollywood deal thanks to the new directors, their dreams of glory and fortune are dashed.

Europe? No idea, mate! : Grrr! Europe!
In what way do we feel that we belong to the EU? To our minds, how important is a European identity for individuals, nations and regions? In our journey across the European Union, we first encounter the opinions of the EU´s most politicized nation, Greece, the cradle of democracy. We then visit the EU´s many groups and ethnic minorities in Denmark, the Netherlands, Ireland, Catalonia, the Basque country, the UK, France, Portugal and Italy. We meet people who are giving their all in an attempt to preserve and to cultivate their own identity. What does it mean to be a European citizen, and what is the impact of this on our everyday lives?

Vote for me! :  Grrr! Europe!
Ten candidates from small parties fight for a seat in the European Parliament.
In June 1999, 10,000 candidates representing 303 political parties entered the fray to fight for the 626 seats available in the European Parliament. Ten outsiders who did not belong to any of the big political parties were followed during the elections. The stakes: a salary equivalent to that of a national parliamentary minister as well as some 150,000 euros for secretariat and accommodation expenses, not forgetting travel costs, and business-class flights.

War or peace : Grrr! Europe!
Two young people, one a Finnish male, the other a Dutch female, get a taste of military life. In Finland, Otso has refused to do his military service, which is compulsory as is the case in nine other countries in the Union. He risks a 6_-month prison term. In the Netherlands, Gwenda, 20, has signed up to an officer training school for four years. The training she receives includes military strategy games against Belgium, but she knows full well that it will not be against European countries she may have to fight in the future. She will be sent on a mission under the aegis of a world-wide organization like NATO or the United Nations.

London calls the squats : Grrr! Europe!
The topsy-turvy world of French squatters in London.
Taking advantage of European legislation on working and living in any country in the Union, Saïd, Gaby and Sophie, three French people originally from Africa, choose to settle in London. They live in a squat in the south of the city, and can benefit from the more tolerant attitude of their neighbors and the British authorities. They are forever on the move in order to avoid eviction. Saïd regularly works on the black, and has even been known to rent out squats to people who are none the wiser. When Gaby is not out scouting for a new place to live, he goes in search of club nights where he can showcase his French rap repertoire in London´s funkiest haunts.

A place in the sun : Grrr! Europe!
Interlinked portraits of two estate agents who sell properties in Portugal and Sweden to Germans.
Arland Carrson, a Swedish estate agent with an office in Emmaboba, in the south of the country, has for the past twenty years been selling properties to German clients eager to find the good life and a house in which to spend their retirement. The local population appreciates the good manners of these new arrivals. In the Alantejo region, Angela, a German, buys old farms which she then sells to her fellow countrymen. Portuguese sellers are often reticent, but money is in short supply. Such is the case for Delphina and her family.

European wager: Grrr! Europe!
Parallel portraits of two economic immigrants: a Dutch farmer who dreams of Poland and a Romanian illegal worker who tries to go to Italy. Henk is a Dutch farmer who cannot really see much of a future for he and his family in Great Britain. An economic immigrant, he has only one thing on his mind & to move to Poland and buy a farm there. At least in Poland there are no milk quotas. At the same time, Robert, a Romanian, can no longer afford to meet his family´s needs, and so attempts to get into Austria illegally so he can cross the border to Italy, where he hopes to find work.

European despite himself: Grrr! Europe! 
A guided tour around the European Parliament, given by an English euro-skeptic minister. Nigel Farrage is one of the three UK Independence Party ministers elected to the European Parliament. He hates this place, and the people who work here. He sees his five-year mandate as a sentence, and compares the Parliament to an Orwellian nightmare. Guiding the viewer through the meandering parliamentary corridors, he highlights the strangest characteristics of this organization. During his visit, he further deepens his stance, proclaims his rhetoric and continues his work day in the same way a typical businessman in the City of London might.…

Greek tragedy: Grrr! Europe!
Philip fights to reclaim the land of his ancestors in Greece.…Back in Greece after an absence, Philip Noel-Baker asked for a loan to transform his home into a family-run guest house. But in 1984, the Greek government confiscated everything which was not part of the house (namely a 5,000-hectare forest) using the reasoning that his ancestor had bought the land from a Turk who had been chased off his land. Since then, Philip has been trying to recover his property, which does not make him too popular with the neighbors. Can he make peace with the local community, and will he win his case?

Summer holiday: Grrr! Europe!
By following various people employed in the tourism industry throughout the European Union, the characteristics of holidaymakers become apparent. For example, did you know that in Greece there are 5,000 bars named ´Zorba´, that one Finnish person in ten goes on holiday to Spain, or that every year, tourists buy 100 kilograms of elk-shaped souvenirs in Sweden?