Zero! (2015)

A father and his son leave in quest of Zero. An initiatory quest for a most weird figure. Indeed, Zero fascinates as much as it worries and disturbs. Invented by the Indians, launched by the Arabs, Zero set out for the Western world which showed some reluctance to adopt it. From Delhi to Tachkent, from Baghdad to Alexandria, from Kairouan to Carthage, Zero did not content itself with the East to exist, cross the Mediterranean and transform the world. The entire world is indebted to Islamic science for transmitting Zero and consequently Arabic figures, but also for inventing decimals and algebra. More still than China and India, Islam approached modern experimentation. The Islamic mathematicians collected a large mass of observations, making use of Greek and Persian sources and also refining the Ptolemaic parameters. They developed optics and designed planetary models that were confirmed by the research work of Copernicus. This documentary series plunges us right into the heart of Mediterranean and Eastern ways of thought and highlights the scientific approach in Islam. "ZERO !" retraces the itinerary of the Zero figure while at the same time enlightening the shared history of civilizations.