In the 1970s Rajaonarivelo made two Malagasy short films. His debut feature film, "Tabataba" (1988), told the story of a village in the 1947 Malagasy Uprising. It was the first Malagasy film to be shown at the Cannes Film Festival, where it won the 1988 Audience Award. It also won the Jury award at the 1989 Taormina Film Fest, and first feature award at the 1989 Carthage Film Festival.