From October 16, we will be able to see the film “Sauvages” in the cinema. Héloïse Krings, 12, interviewed the director of this film at the FIFF (Festival international du film francophone), in Namur.
Héloïse, 12, asked questions to the director of the film Sauvages, Claude Barras. – EdA/ NL
Nathalie Lemaire
Published on 09-10-2024 at 07:43
Why did you create this film?
I had seen an article which said that there would soon be no more orangutans because we were cutting down all their forests. It made me want to make a film about it, to try to help stop these forests from being cut down.
And then I discovered that there were still people living traditionally in these forests. I traveled there and worked with them. For example, the characters’ backpacks were made on site in miniature, for our puppets. We also speak their real language, which we recorded with three people from Borneo (an island in Southeast Asia).
Who are the savages to you?
Wild is a word that can be used in several senses.
A wild animal can mean free, strong, independent, which can live without humans.
And at the same time, calling someone wild can mean that they don’t know how to live with others, and that’s rather negative.
I liked that we could have both meanings of this word. And then, in the film, the people who come from the city and who cut down the trees, they treat the people who live in the forest as savages… But if we think about what they are doing wrong, we say to ourselves that it It’s quite the opposite… So I thought it was interesting to put this word as a title.
So the situation in the film really exists?
Yes, it’s a very well-documented film. The Penan portrayed in the film are people who really exist. They are the last hunter-gatherers of the forest in Borneo. And for two generations they have been trying to stop the bulldozers coming to cut down the forest. They don’t have ID cards, like in the movie. And there are indeed people who have been in prison or who have disappeared while defending the forest.
And they really have totems?
Yes. They observed me for a few days then they gave me a special name: Laki-kouyou. It means “the man who makes the shadows move”. For them, puppets are something to tell stories and they make shadow theaters in the forest.
How was this film made? How long? How were the fire and water effects achieved? And the voices? Find the interview part linked to the making of the film in your JDE for October 10, 2024!
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