''Savages'' () is a 2024

stop motion Stop-motion (also known as stop frame animation) is an animated filmmaking and special effects technique in which objects are physically manipulated in small increments between individually photographed frames so that they will appear to exh ...

animated film Animation is a filmmaking technique whereby still images are manipulated to create moving images. In traditional animation, images are drawn or painted by hand on transparent celluloid sheets to be photographed and exhibited on film. Animati ...

directed by

Claude Barras Claude Barras (born 1973) is a Swiss director, producer, and writer. Barras was born in Sierre, Switzerland. He studied illustration and computer graphics at Emile Cohl School in Lyon and 3D infographics at ECAL. He then received a degree in an ...

and starring Babette De Coster and Martin Verset.

Premise

Kéria (De Coster), a young girl lives with her father in the Serawak province of

Borneo Borneo () is the List of islands by area, third-largest island in the world, with an area of , and population of 23,053,723 (2020 national censuses). Situated at the geographic centre of Maritime Southeast Asia, it is one of the Greater Sunda ...

while he works in a

palm oil Palm oil is an edible vegetable oil derived from the mesocarp (reddish pulp) of the fruit of oil palms. The oil is used in food manufacturing, in beauty products, and as biofuel. Palm oil accounted for about 36% of global oils produced from o ...

plantation Plantations are farms specializing in cash crops, usually mainly planting a single crop, with perhaps ancillary areas for vegetables for eating and so on. Plantations, centered on a plantation house, grow crops including cotton, cannabis, tob ...

. Her late mother had been part of the

indigenous Indigenous may refer to: *Indigenous peoples *Indigenous (ecology) In biogeography, a native species is indigenous to a given region or ecosystem if its presence in that region is the result of only local natural evolution (though often populari ...

Penan people The Penan are a nomadic indigenous people living in Sarawak and Brunei, although there is only one small community in Brunei; among those in Brunei half have been converted to Islam, even if only superficially. Penan are one of the last such p ...

, but Kéria has little interest in this aspect of her heritage. She and her father rescue an

orangutan Orangutans are great apes native to the rainforests of Indonesia and Malaysia. They are now found only in parts of Borneo and Sumatra, but during the Pleistocene they ranged throughout Southeast Asia and South China. Classified in the genus ...

, who comes to be known as Oshi. When Kéria's Penan cousin Selaï (Verset) is displaced from her home by

deforestation Deforestation or forest clearance is the removal and destruction of a forest or stand of trees from land that is then converted to non-forest use. Deforestation can involve conversion of forest land to farms, ranches, or urban use. Ab ...

and comes to live with the family, the two children and orangutan must fight back against the logging companies.

Cast

* Babette De Coster as Kéria * Martin Verset as Selaï *

Laetitia Dosch Laetitia Dosch (; born 1 September 1980) is a French-Swiss actress. Her film credits include '' Age of Panic'', '' Keeper'', '' Summertime'', '' Montparnasse Bienvenue'', and '' Our Struggles''. In 2024, she made make her directorial debut with ' ...

as Jeanne *

Benoît Poelvoorde Benoît Poelvoorde (, ; born 22 September 1964) is a Belgian actor and comedian. Early life His mother was a grocer and his father a driver, who died when Poelvoorde was still a minor. He attended the Collège Saint-Paul (Godinne), Jesuit Boar ...

as Kéria's father * Pierre-Isaïe Duc as Kéria's grandfather *

Michel Vuillermoz Michel Vuillermoz (born 18 December 1962) is a French actor and scriptwriter. Vuillermoz has appeared in more than 100 films and 40 plays. In 1998, he received two Molière Award: Best Male Newcomer and Best Play for ''André le Magnifique''. ...

as the foreman *

Gaël Faye Gaël Faye (; born 6 August 1982) is a Rwandan–French singer, songwriter, rapper, and writer. Personal life Faye was born in Bujumbura, Burundi, of a French father and Rwandan mother. He moved to France at the age of 13, escaping from the B ...

* Sailyvia Paysan as Selaï's mother * Anna-Marie Missoul

Production

Barras began conceptualizing ''Savages'' while on the year-long press tour for his 2016 Academy Award-nominated feature film ''

My Life as a Courgette ''My Life as a Courgette'' (; also titled ''My Life as a Zucchini'' in North America and Australia) is a 2016 stop-motion animated comedy-drama film directed by Claude Barras, and co-written by Céline Sciamma. It was screened in the Directors' F ...

''.

Release

''Savages'' premiered out of competition in the Young Audiences section of the

2024 Cannes Film Festival The 77th annual Cannes Film Festival took place from 14 to 25 May 2024. American filmmaker and actress Greta Gerwig served as jury president for the main competition. American filmmaker Sean Baker (filmmaker), Sean Baker won the Palme d'Or, the ...

on 18 May 2024. The film also played in competition at the

Annecy International Animation Film Festival The Annecy International Animation Film Festival (, officially abbreviated in English as the Annecy Festival, or simply Annecy) was created in 1960 and takes place at the beginning of June in the town of Annecy, France. Initially occurring ever ...

and is scheduled to screen at the

77th Locarno Film Festival The 77th Locarno Film Festival was held from 7 August to 17 August 2024. '' The Crowd'' by King Vidor, accompanied by live music from the Orchestra della Svizzera Italiana, screened the night before the festival began, and '' The Flood'' by Gian ...

, where Barras will be recognized with the Locarno Kids Award la Mobiliare.

Reception

Critical reception

Accolades

References

External links

* {{IMDb title, tt10695672
Trailer
2024 films Films about animals Films about animal rights Films about apes Indigenous films Deforestation 2024 animated films 2024 adventure films 2020s French animated films 2020s stop-motion animated films French animated drama films French comedy-drama films French independent films 2020s French-language films Swiss animated films Swiss comedy-drama films Swiss independent films Films set in Borneo French-language Swiss films French animated comedy films