For the inhabitants of the village of Sitabaomba near the Madagascan capital Antananarivo, French is not the language of love, but the language of colonization. They use French to command their zebu oxen to turn left and right in the fields and their local language for puppetry and kabary, the Malagasy oratory. Filmmaker Nantenaina Lova accompanies rice farmer Ly and other villagers in their struggle to defend their land against the attacks of the state, the military and multinational corporations. (A)

Nantenaina Lova, born in Madagascar in 1977, studied sociology and humanitarian studies in France. He returned to Madagascar between 2003 and 2005 and became a journalist. He completed a master's in information and communication in La Réunion and attended the ESAV Film School in Toulouse. In 2008, he and his wife founded the production company Endemika Films.