Through Hypemada, Hobiana Rabiazamaholy leads a media and community initiative dedicated to Malagasy culture within the diaspora. As part of the first cohort of MansA Lab, she helps raise awareness of this culture, build connections between communities, and share its contemporary expressions.
By Selma Chougar
Published on 12/26/2025
When she arrived in France at age 17, Hobiana Rabiamaholy had no idea she would become a filmmaker and co-founder of a cultural media outlet connecting Madagascar and its diaspora. A native of the Malagasy capital, Antananarivo, she—like many others—was driven by an educational and cultural system that presented the West as the only path forward: “I didn’t feel like I had a choice,” she says. So she left her island—which had no film programs—for Bordeaux, convinced that her future lay there.
In France, the culture shock hits her hard. Isolation, the financial struggles of student life, everyday racism, the harsh reality of being a “foreigner”: “No one prepares us for this,” she says quietly. Yet this sense of being uprooted becomes a source of strength. In Bordeaux, among her Malagasy friends, a shared need emerges: to create a space where the diaspora can breathe, find a sense of belonging, and tell their stories in ways other than through the Church or sports—the only places that seemed intended for them. In 2018, Hypemada was born, an organization that has since evolved into a cultural media outlet, serving as a bridge between Madagascar and its diaspora.
Hobiana continued her film studies, working her way up one internship at a time, all the way to Paris. The pandemic stranded her in France, so she submitted a resume “at 3 a.m.” Very quickly, she was contacted by Yard and got started… even before she was officially hired. There, she became an editor, then a director—a title she’s still getting used to. Documentary has become her language: understanding her own place in the world, telling others’ stories, and exploring diaspora narratives with accuracy and sensitivity.
Hypemada, which began as a simple fundraising effort among friends, has grown significantly. Charity events, cultural outreach, zines documenting protests by Malagasy youth, visual archives, political commentary… Today, there are 34 volunteers—creators, designers, producers—all driven by the same desire: to restore a sense of pride that has been taken away. “We have one foot here and one foot there. We want the truth to flow between the two.”
The project’s strength also lies in its internal diversity, which brings together children from the island and children from the diaspora: “People talk about ‘one community,’ but there are actually many communities. After all, there are 18 ethnic groups on the island,” she points out. Hypemada thus becomes less of an organization and more of a collective refuge—a place where people explore fashion, music, languages, colonial traumas, and representations—without ever claiming to speak for everyone.
Today, Hobiana co-founds, coordinates, and provides support. The team is building a media website, preparing a magazine, organizing events, and forging connections between generations. With support from Mansa, Hypemada is shaping its vision, legal framework, and ambitions. The goal remains twofold: to endure as a cultural club open to all, and—perhaps—to become a sustainable media outlet.
His slogan, which started out as a joke, has become a manifesto: “Mada to the world.” It’s a way of saying: our story will no longer be told without us.
