Claude Barras travels to Borneo with his new film “Sauvages”
Published: Friday, Apr 26th 2024, 19:10
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Claude Barras' second film is celebrating its world premiere at the Cannes Film Festival. With his new work "Sauvages", the director from Valais has created a fable set on the South East Asian island of Borneo.
The animated film "Sauvages" will be shown as part of the Séances jeune public at this year's edition of the French festival. This comes eight years after the world premiere of Claude Barras' "Ma vie de courgette" in the renowned "Quinzaine des réalisateurs" section, also in Cannes.
"A screening in Cannes to celebrate the premiere of a film is something quite extraordinary," said Claude Barras in an interview with the Keystone-SDA news agency.
His film "Ma vie de courgette" attracted over 179,000 viewers to Swiss cinemas and won various awards. Barras' new film is being shown in the very year that Switzerland is the guest country at the "Marché du Film". The market is a platform for the international film industry.
In the interview, the French-speaking Swiss welcomed the recognition of Swiss film, which "goes through ups and downs" due to multilingualism and a divided market.
Film must have international appeal
"To make a stop-motion animation film, you can't limit yourself to Switzerland in terms of budget and audience," said Barras. In stop-motion films, individual images are recorded and strung together to create the illusion of movement.
"Sauvages" is a Swiss-French-Belgian co-production. The budget for the animated film, which lasts just under 90 minutes, was between 12 and 13 million. The shorter predecessor film "Ma vie de Courgette", which has a running time of just over an hour, had a budget of between seven and eight million.
This was a Swiss-French co-production. For his new film, Barras worked with partners in France and Belgium who also produce films using the stop-motion technique. "The collaboration with the foreign partners was also interesting from a creative point of view," said the 51-year-old from Valais.
Over 300 people have contributed
A total of 300 people were involved in the film. During the peak of filming, 50 people were employed in Martigny VS. Barras' adventure began in 2017 with the drawing of the baby orangutan that plays a key role in the animated film. He then spent a year at the "Groupe Ouest", a writing residency in Brittany, France.
"By the end of that year, I had a first draft of the script, which enabled me to meet producers". This was followed by a phase of rewriting with co-author Catherine Paillé, which ultimately led to the film.
"Sauvages" is an ecological fable set in the heart of the rainforest. Like many Swiss of his generation, Barras was strongly influenced by Bruno Manser and his fight to defend the Penan way of life. This is an indigenous community of hunter-gatherers in the Borneo forest that is threatened by deforestation.
Basel-based environmental activist Manser has been missing since 2000 and was declared missing in 2005. Barras visited the Penan in 2018 and the film is based on real events. For example, the construction of the new Indonesian capital Nusantara, for which parts of the jungle have to make way. However, no exact location is mentioned in the French director's new film.
Focusing on the good for the target audience
The target audience is families and children, as was the case with "Ma vie de courgette". "The film is very realistic, but at the same time shows the beautiful things that need to be preserved," said Barras. He believes that children's films should have a positive note. "Nature, in particular, is very resilient: all it takes is one island of biodiversity spreading to turn the tide," said the director.
Barras plans to return to the country next year with the Bruno Manser Fund. He wants to show the film to the people he met during his visit in 2018. During filming, members of the Penan community had already come to Martigny for the shoot. But first he will travel to Cannes for the world premiere of his new film.
©Keystone/SDA
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