Founded in 1995 by Elisa Mereghetti, Marco Mensa and Sandra Degiuli, ETHNOS is a TV production company specializing in documentaries and audiovisual communication. Starting with a focus on ethnographic and anthropological documentary, Ethnos expands its activities producing geographical and nature documentaries in various Italian and Europeans regions and collaborating with RAI-National Italian Television. It also develops a wide net of collaborations with the Development Program of the United Nations (UNDP) and with various Non- Governmental Organizations, producing social communication campaigns and several documentaries in Africa, Asia and South America. These film focus on development cooperation programs, environmental issues, human rights, the South of the world. Ethnos has worked in the following countries (besides Italy): Senegal, Eritrea, Morocco, Tunisia, Uganda, Malawi, Brazil, Benin, Burkina Faso, Guyana, Mexico, Nigeria, Algeria, Indonesia, China, Philippines, Puerto Rico, Albania, Israel, Egypt, Island, Ireland, USA, Russia, Zimbabwe.

ETHNOS received support for its projects from various institutions such as: European Commission (Media Plus Programme), European Parliament, Emilia-Romagna Region, Unicef, Province of Bologna, Luce Institute, Fondazione Compagnia di San Paolo, Tuscany Region, Carnegie Corporation of New York.

Ethnos production have been aired by Italian and foreign broadcasters, among which: RAI Radiotelevisione Italiana: Geo&Geo RAI3, RAI5, Mixer RAI2, Sorgente di Vita RAI 2, RAI INTERNATIONAL, Rete Blu spa , RTI – Reti Televisive Italiane, RTSI – Televisione Svizzera di lingua italiana, Serra Creativa – RAI (Milano) Canale Viaggi, Duna TV (Ungheria), Maori TV (Nuova Zelanda), Marco Polo TV, Planet, The Walt Disney Company Italia, TV Slovenija, Unica Lombardia, Yle TV (Finlandia). 

Among clients and partners of Ethnos are different international companies such as: Alexander Street Press (USA), Carnegie Corporation – New York (USA), Filmmakers Library (USA), Films pour un seul monde (Switzerland), UNDP – United Nations Development Program (Ginevra – New York), Unicef (Roma – New York). Ethnos has collaborated with various public institutions as Alma Mater Studiorum – University of Bologna, many local administrations, the Italian MInistry of Foreign Affairs, Ministry for Social Solidarity, the European Parliament, in addition to many associations and private companies.

In addition to the main focus on documentary production, Ethnos worked on institutional and corporate videos, training films, children programs, social communication campaigns. Ethnos has created the innovative web TV 8doors, for the Chinese audience. In synergy with other companies Ethnos developed 3D Alliance, a project geared to research and production in stereoscopic 3D. Ethnos is among the founders, in 2006, of the Emilia-Romagna Documentarists Association the first association of documentarists on a regional basis. Ethnos participates actively to the promotion and spreading of documentary culture participating in various training project in educational settings, such as the intensive workshop on documentary production led in 2013 in Havana, Cuba, organized by GVC and Association DER, which resulted in the production of the participated video “Cuentos de El Canal“.