After moving audiences with his 2016 movie My Life as a Zucchini, Claude Barras presented his latest work Savages (Sauvages), which had its world premiere at the 2024 Cannes Film Festival. It took part in the feature film competition at the 2024 Annecy International Animation Film Festival and also won the Locarno Kids Award.
Written by Claude Barras and Catherine Paillé, this family film (87′) follows 11-year-old Kéria, who lives with her father in Borneo while he works on a palm oil plantation. When Kéria and her father rescue the baby orangutan Oshi, Kéria’s Penan cousin Selaï comes to live with them, fleeing the conflict between his nomadic family and the logging companies. Together, Kéria, Selaï, and Oshi fight to protect their ancestral forest home from deforestation. This situation also allows the girl to discover the truth about her mother’s death and her own origins.
Using an impressive stop-motion technique, the film transports Kéria and the viewer into the captivating beauty of the jungle. The images convey a mixture of fear and freedom, reminiscent of the best children’s adventure stories, such as Eva Ibbotson’s Journey to the River Sea, a novel in which the English orphan Maia is completely enchanted by the natural wonders of Amazon.
The story, which may seem less compelling than the intense personal struggles depicted in My Life as a Zucchini, is particularly close to the director’s heart. This is partly because the film was inspired by his own childhood memories of growing up in the Swiss Alps, where his grandparents lived and were deeply connected to nature and its rhythms. Even the use of stop-motion animation, which is technically more complex than Barras’ previous work, becomes for him a celebration of the real world, in contrast to the growing prominence of the virtual world. Throughout the film, Daniel Balavoine’s song Tous les cris les S.O.S., melancholic and hopeful.
Savages is a deep animated film that draws attention to the plight of the Penan tribe, who have been fighting against deforestation since 1987. The film’s large-eyed characters serve as an invitation for the audience to open our eyes to the real-world environmental crisis unfolding, and to recognise the right to fight for what we believe is important.
Upon its release on October 16, 2024, Savages will be accompanied by an impact campaign that encourages audiences to take action to address the issues of deforestation and the excesses of the agri-food industry depicted in the film. The campaign will partner with organizations such as the Bruno Manser Fund, Foodwatch, Greenpeace, Kalaweit, One Voice, and Pan Eco.
Savages is co-produced between Switzerland, France and Belgium thanks to producers Nadasdy Film, Haut et Court, Beast Animation, Hélium Films, and Panique! The film is distributed by Cinéart and Frenetic Films, while the worldwide sales are handled by Anton Corp and Gebeka International.
