Yann Arthus-Bertrand: People's planet

Human, a documentary by French director Yann Arthus-Bertrand, features real stories of 2,020 people from 60 countries in 63 different languages. [Photo provided to China Daily]

Despite Arthus-Bertrand's failure to obtain answers through the film, he says the documentary makes him a better person.

His inspiration to make the film can be traced to a helicopter breakdown in the 1980s, when he was forced to land in rural Mali, a landlocked country in West Africa, and met a local peasant.

His three-day stay there and his conversations concerning every aspect of the farmer's life made the Frenchman, who comes from a family of renowned jewelers, realize that he could explore a stranger's inner world.

"When someone is looking into your eyes and opening his heart, the feeling is different and strong. Those three days led me to decide to do something about humanity," he says.