Mad 47

Come and join a group of French scientists on an unprecedented expedition to the most remote region of Madagascar. Discover the lost, breathtakingly beautiful region of Makay.

In the remote Manambolomaty lakes region, a globally unique ecosystem is home to both the Sakalava indigenous people and the endangered Madagascar Fish eagle. Through close collaboration with the local community, the region has become a stunning success for conservation - even as the rest of Madagascar's nature suffers heavy losses.

December 1976, a three-day revolt erupts in the small town of Majunga, Madagascar. Ali, a widower, is caught in an abrupt and violent turmoil between communities. His first and only preoccupation is how to protect his young daughters.

An animated documentary that speaks to immigrants' personal experiences living in Aotearoa, exploring themes of racism, discrimination, loss, loneliness, and maintaining cultural ties while living in another country.

Tabataba tells the story of a small Malagasy village during the independence uprising which took place in 1947 in the south of the country. For several months, part of the Malagasy population revolted against the French colonial army in a bloody struggle. The repression in villages that followed was terrible, leading to fires, arrests and torture. Women, children and the elderly were the indirect victims of the conflict and suffered particularly from famine and illness. One leader of the MDRM Malagasy Party, which campaigns for the independence of the country, arrives in a village. Solo (François Botozandry), the main character, is still too young to fight but he sees his brother and most of the men in his clan join up. His grandmother, Bakanga (Soavelo), knows what will happen, but Solo still hopes his elder brother will return a hero. After months of rumours, he sees instead the French army arrive to crush the rebellion.

If some want to perpetuate colonization, Malagasy people must oppose a strong no, whoever the colonists are » . Thus spoke Felix Robson, deported during the anti-colonial insurrection of 1947.

On March 29, 1947, peasants armed with sticks and knives attacked the French garrisons in Madagascar. The revolt would end twenty months later with the death of the last insurgents, shot down by the expeditionary force. France, accustomed to memory lapses, knew nothing of this insurrection and its trail of torture and abuses. In Madagascar, well after independence, the events of 1947 were never discussed. For more than a generation, parents refused to speak of them to their children. It wasn't until the 1980s that the silence was broken.

Thanks to new excavations in Mauritius and Madagascar, as well as archival and museum research in France, Spain, England and Canada, a group of international scholars paint a new portrait of the world of piracy in the Indian Ocean.

Footage of a volcano eruption in Madagascar set to music by Klaus Schulze, Popol Vuh and Tangerine Dream, and poems by Raficq Abdulla.