Eternal youth, a human dream. In the last hundred years, industrialized nations have experienced a health revolution: people are living longer than ever before in human history. Deadly plagues and diseases were eradicated, and technological advances provided abundant food and easy mobility. But modern life is gradually giving birth to new diseases such as cancer and dementia, which we are trying to combat with ever greater use of science and technology. We are all getting older, but we all have to fear becoming seriously ill in old age. Would it be possible to grow old while maintaining the health of youth? In a few regions of the world, people seem to have the recipe for this. There are a noticeable number of centenarians here. Old people who are young at heart live with agility and alertness, work and party as if it were all effortless. What is her secret? In stylistically modern and cinematically high-quality images, the Fountain of Youth of the World series takes the viewer to five different regions of the world.

Year after year, the UN honors the small country of Costa Rica with a top spot among the happiest countries in the world. In the province of Guanacaste, people are also living longer than anywhere else in the country. It still exists here, a deep satisfaction with life, no matter how poor you are. In the immediate vicinity of exotic dream beaches, almost centenarians work in the fields every day, an old fisherman hunts large fish with his son, and a retired teacher puts great effort into building social institutions.

Director: Yousif Al-Chalabi
Script: Yousif Al-Chalabi
Camera: Yousif Al-Chalabi
Editing: Daniel Paul Bier
Music: Christoph Schauer
Sound: Eric Narjes
Narrator: Erich Räuker
Editorial Staff: Pit Lehmann (MDR), Christian Cools (arte)
Production lead: Brigit Mulders, Bernd Schwarzer (MDR)
Production : Andrea Ufer
Station: MDR/arte

– Episode 1 – Guanacaste, Costa Rica
– Episode 2 – Abchasien, Kaukasus
– Episode 3 – Campodimele, Italien
– Episode 4 – Hainan, China
– Episode 5 – Loma Linda, Kalifornien/USA