Forbidden Films
Go behind the scenes of our investigations.
Forbidden Films is a documentary production company created in 2019 by Laurent Richard.
This subsidiary of Forbidden Stories produces documentaries from behind the scenes of our international investigations in a compelling and accessible format, with the aim of increasing the organization’s visibility and raising awareness of its mission.
The Green Blood documentary notably received the 2020 Prix Europa award for best European documentary series.
The Spy in Your Mobile
In July 2021, the Israeli Pegasus surveillance software scandal broke.
The international media consortium coordinated by Forbidden Stories reveals an out-of-control global spying system used by more than 65 countries on the phones of thousands of journalists, lawyers, human rights activists, heads of state and political opponents around the world.
By interviewing these various actors, the documentary retraces the months leading up to the revelation of the investigation and points out the authoritarian excesses of the states as well as the violations and repercussions on the private lives of individuals.
The Rise of Wagner
This suspenseful documentary series tells the story of the Russian journalists who risked their lives investigating civilian deaths in Syria and the Central African Republic, and revealed to the world the existence of a dangerous group of mercenaries in charge of the Kremlin’s clandestine operations.
Following their fight for the truth alongside human rights defenders, we discover how this secret militia became the infamous Wagner Group and the rise of its powerful leader Yevgeny Prigozhin.
Daphne
On October 16, 2017, Maltese journalist Daphne Caruana Galizia was murdered in a car bombing.
Her three sons are convinced it was a political assassination. Their mother was investigating the corruption of the Prime Minister’s relatives. Since that day, they have fought tirelessly to find those responsible for her murder.
In their quest for the truth, they are joined by a team of 45 international journalists. The film is the story of their fight for justice against a mafia state, whose involvement in the murder becomes more and more clear.
Slovakia, the Murdered Lovers
On February 26, 2018, the bodies of Jan Kuciak and his girlfriend Martina Kusnirova were discovered in their home near Bratislava, as Jan was preparing to publish an investigation into alleged links between Slovak politicians and the Italian mafia as well as fraud around European agricultural funds.
The barbaric murder of the young journalist and his fiancée came as a monumental shock to public opinion, resulting in an unprecedented popular mobilization.
The documentary chronicles this historic response to censorship and impunity. The story of a universal struggle by journalists, activists and ordinary citizens for justice and democracy.
The Caviar Connection
Europe proclaims its values loud and clear. Freedom of speech, democratic elections, prohibition of torture.
This two-part documentary reveals, however, that when business and money are at stake, European countries can turn into dictatorships, leading to serious human rights violations.
Worse, it shows how corruption has crept into the heart of European institutions to the benefit of autocratic regimes.
Cartel Project
At the beginning of the investigation is the murder in 2012 of journalist Regina Martínez in Mexico, the most dangerous country for the press in the world.
For 10 months, 60 journalists from 25 international media joined forces to pursue her work on Mexican cartels, their links to power and their international connections to source weapons and synthetic drugs.
Filmed like a thriller, the documentary follows the reporters to the territories controlled by the cartels and reveals the human cost of multinational drug companies.
Green Blood
In the last ten years, at least 13 journalists have been murdered around the world while investigating environmental scandals.
For the first time, 40 international journalists from 30 media outlets, members of the Forbidden Stories network, decided to collaborate in order to pursue the censored stories of the mining sector and reveal the methods of one of the world’s most opaque and polluting industries.
Filmed like a detective story, constructed like a soap opera, the Green Blood documentary series plunges into the heart of this exclusive global investigation that reveals the human and ecological price of the mining industry in India, Guatemala and Tanzania.
