Savages (in-person & online)

Babette De Coster, Martin Verset, Laëtitia Dosch (voices)

In the Borneo jungle, loggers and plantation companies are pitted against Indigenous communities and environmental activists. 11-year-old Kéria (Babette De Coster) who has Indigenous Penan heritage on her mother’s side, lives there with her father, who works on a palm oil plantation. She’s passionate about the environment and news that their family home is under threat from deforestation only makes her more so, especially when she meets Oshi, an orphaned orangutan – but their budding friendship is cut short by a visit from Kéria’s cousin Selaï (Martin Verset). When a fight leads Selaï to run away with Oshi, an anxious Kéria must venture deeper into the forest than ever before.

Swiss director Claude Barras’ much-anticipated follow-up to the Oscar-nominated My Life as a Courgette, Savages does not disappoint. Another strikingly realised stop-motion animation, this time invoking a magical forest world teeming with Indigenous history and legend, it’s a vivid, urgent, incisive film with an uncompromising environmental and anti-colonialist message that will galvanise audiences of all ages. By rendering both animals and people in colourful clay, Savages puts them on a level playing field, demanding a shift in perspective. What should we call those who destroy the habitats of wild creatures and the ancient homes of Indigenous people?

Please note: Savages will be available to book on release in an original French (English subtitled) version and an English dub. The  former will play at Young Audiences Screening Days.