Samka Productions

When you ask questions about daily life, there’s a thousand things to tell! Every object, even those that have become so familiar that we don’t “see” them anymore, can tell exciting stories. Maestro will reveal them all the while entertaining us! Behind any pair of eyeglasses, an eraser or a bicycle, stand ten thousand years of History, anecdotes, science and design! Every object is an opportunity to visit the various fields of knowledge (History, Geography, Physics, Natural Science, Philosophy) and discover how they’ve played a role in the History of Humanity and made the world in which we live... as well as the one we’ll be living in tomorrow!

The goal is to show children that this special kind of magic is literally within their grasp! Every object around us is the fruit of a long process and has its own history full of human adventures. Finding out that there’s a thousand years of history behind a simple spoon is both surprising and fun! Making viewers look at daily life through new eyes: helping children understand their environment through objects that surround them.

By entertaining them, we want to make children feel that knowledge is a source of wonder and joy that improves their daily lives. Curiosity and wonder are the starting point of knowledge. By sharpening their interest, we hope to awaken children awareness. And who knows, we might even spark some callings!

A comedy series packed with action and adventure, the show centres on a ‘Viking Skool’ that trains the very best to be future Viking leaders. Ylva, Erik and Arni are three friends brought together at the ‘skool’, although for them becoming a Viking is a long shot! Bound together by their outlier status, their friendship grows as they meet various challenges. The three unlikely heroes show what a true Viking heart and soul looks like and that bravery, while not easy, is necessary. And that loyalty is important, but honesty more so, and that friendship is the glue that gets us through life!

On the run from aliens, Jamie, a young prince from the planet Blarb, escapes to Earth. Disguised as a human boy, he must remain incognito. Erwin, Jamie’s friend spends most of his time covering for Jamie’s intergalactic blunders. The evil aliens have dispatched a robot and a mutant cow to Earth to capture Jamie!

The sisters is a comedy telling the day to day life of two sisters aged 7 and 13. Marine is still a child while Wendy her elder sister is entering the teenage years. They both have a strong temper, very different personalities and love each other! Marine is naive, lovable , quite hyperactive and….very invasive. She always has crazy ideas to grasp her sisters attention while Wendy aspires to a grown up life. The character driven comedy is about brotherhood/sisterhood.

When a tooth falling out turns into a hunt for the giant mouse, when the sewers transform into white rapids or when a trip to the toilets becomes an expedition to a haunted house, well then you've entered the world of Eliot Kid! Eliot has a wild imagination and he turns the most commonplace situations into Hollywood action-adventure blockbusters of which he becomes the hero...

In order to save their beloved school from the wild plots hatched by their evil teacher, four friends have formed a spy network! Armed with gadgets such as the super-sonic-reactor skateboard, bullet-proof chewing gum or laughing gas pop-corn they will do anything to save their little world. Their code name? Invisible Network of Kids, or INK for short!

1/ Once upon a time...MAN

The story of Earth and Humanity, from Big Bang till 20th century with projection into the future. Three episodes deal with Prehistory, following topics are Fertile Valleys, the First Empires, Greece, Rome, then 18 episodes deal with contemporary history and future.

2/ Once upon a time... SPACE

A journey into Space. From one planet to another, our friends (same characters as “Once upon a time...Man”) lead us to discover other worlds and other life forms in a fascinating adventure full of humour, poetry, philosophy and mythology.

3/ Once upon a time...LIFE

A journey into the human body. We are in the very core of the human being and the cells, mineral salts, viruses... are personified and look like the famous characters of the “Once upon a time...” series. We discover how the body works with Maestro’s playful comments whose office is situated inside the brain. Goods (such as white blood cells) are fighting against Nasties (the Pest and the Dwarf are aggressive viruses or bacteria), in order to keep the body healthy and have it work properly.

4/ Once upon a time... AMERICAS
Our familiar characters (Maestro, Pierrot, the Pest, the Dwarf...) live the History of the whole American Continent (north and south) from the invasions of the Eurasians crossing the dry Bering Detroit...We also learn about Jacques Cartier in Canada, Cortès in Mexico, Bolivar in Venezuela... About the USA, we get to know more about the War of Independence, the Goldrush, and the Indians fight...

5/ Once upon a time... THE DISCOVERERS
This is the exciting story of the great discoveries and of those who made them, and therefore shaping the world to make it as it is today. From Chinese writing to the invention of the automobile, taking us from electricity, to vaccination, and measurement... Maestro guides us through the centuries, introducing us to famous Newton, Galileo, Faraday, Edison, Darwin, Gutenberg, Einstein, and Marie Curie.

6/ Once upon a time... THE EXPLORERS
This is a counterpart to "... the Discoverers" who took us along the route to discovery of scientific knowledge. "The Explorers", on the other hand, take us to unknown lands and horizons. They will show us how we came to know our planet which, a very few centuries ago, we must never forget, was just a terra incognita...

7/ Once upon a time... PLANET EARTH

Maestro draws the children's attention to the importance of Sustainable Development. Our familiar young heroes are now secondary school pupils, aged 13 and 14 years. They are confronted to problems related to global warming, pollution, drought, and decrease of energy resources.
With Maestro they always try to find out some realistic and optimistic evolution to all these situations still in respect of humanist values and solidarity.

+200 million books sold

+ 120 million DVD sold

Available in UK, Ireland, USA, English-speaking Canada, LATAM, China, Turkey and Russia

Hector, a young boy wanting adventure, becomes best friends with the legendary Marsupilami and his family. Their joyful life in the jungle is threatened by a nasty businesswoman called Felicia Devower. It is up to Marsu and Hector to try and stop Felicia’s evil plans.