LA ZAD: Zone To Be Defended

There is a battle being waged in the countryside around Nantes, in France, which the government has zoned for development - Zone d’Aménagement Différé - with plans to build an international airport. Activists and local people have come together to defend the area which they have called a Zone À Défendre - a Zone to be Defended. The ZAD now is now crisscrossed with treehouses, vegetable plots, community hubs and is the site of spectacular actions. The resistance movement has become a national cause with growing support for these opposing the airport. Filmmaker Jean-François Castell spent three weeks in the heart of the ZAD following activists and recording the escalating police presence and crackdown. A good article to accompany this film can be found here.