Hull Independent Cinema: Savages

Dir Claude Barras | Switzerland, France, Belgium, UK | 2024 | 87 mins | Rated PG | French
*Please note earlier than usual start time of 7pm for this screening*

In Borneo, the development of plantations is driving deforestation and threatening the local orangutan population. When security guard Mutang sees a colleague shoot one of the animals for no reason, he and his daughter Keria adopt its orphaned baby. Their family is from one of the indigenous groups that live on the island and as they work to keep the baby ape safe, Keria begins to learn about the threats to her people’s homes and livelihoods from companies and a complicit government intent on driving them from the land, and learns to embrace her heritage. A powerful allegory told through gorgeous stop-motion animation.
Starring Nicolas Buysse, Karim Barras, Babette De Coster

AWARDS AND FESTIVALS
Magritte Awards: Winner, Best Original Score
César Awards: Nominee, Best Animated Film
European Film Awards: Nominee, 2 awards including Best Film

REVIEWS
“Barras builds the film not just so that annihilation feels tangible, but also so that sense of history and spirituality can be felt as well as told.” ★★★★ Kambole Campbell, Little White Lies
“There’s real value in a family film that puts its characters before plot, gags and pop-culture references, and which explores it with such wit, sincerity and visual panache.” ★★★★ Dan Jolin, Time Out
“A charming coming-of-age picture, certainly, but it’s also a film that directly engages with Indigenous rights and some of the more urgent environmental issues of the moment.” Wendy Ide, Screen International
“…absolutely gorgeous to look at.” Lovia Gyarkye, The Hollywood Reporter