Released on October 16, 2024, Sauvages is a stop-motion animated film which takes us to Borneo, on the edge of the great tropical forest threatened with destruction by human exploitation. Kéria takes in a baby orangutan found in the palm oil plantation where her father works, while her cousin Selaï takes refuge with them to escape the misdeeds of the logging companies. A committed fable inspired by current events, for the whole family. The film is notably supported by Greenpeace.
Ingenious!
The sets and accessories were manufactured by the Rennes studio Nobody is Perfect, which depends on the producers of Vivement Lundi!. The foliage is made of tissue paper, dyed and cut by machine. The trees have an aluminum film frame covered in woven linen thread, mixed with a paste that can be sculpted and painted.
Maquettes Vs. 3D
The puppets are animated by hand, movement by movement. A unique but tedious rendering, compared to synthetic images that can be copied and pasted at will. Filming Sauvages took more than six months with nine full-time animators. And the public likes it! Digital technology is not entirely absent: all the images are reworked on the computer to be cleaned and make the forest deeper and more realistic.
Fascination for nature
The director of the film, Claude Barras (Ma Vie de Courgette…), is fascinated by orangutans. He spent several weeks in Borneo, the region where these large primates live. With his film, he seeks to raise awareness about deforestation in a factual manner. Sauvages could be released next March in Borneo, if discussions with the local distributor are successful.
Experienced craftsmen-artists
55 people took turns at the Rennes studio to create sets and costumes for 12 months. The sets were designed by Rennais Jean-Marc Ogier. He has been production designer on numerous multi-award-winning stop-motion films such as Forbidden to Dogs and Italians (2023). The costumes were designed by Anna Deschamps, who was also the costume designer on Forbidden Dogs and No Italians.
What Mathieu Courtois, producer at Vivement Lundi!
“The sets and accessories for the film were made in Rennes, while the puppets were made in Annecy. We have been refining our techniques since 1994. Rennes' know-how in stop-motion is highly sought after. Few studios in France can boast of having our experience and this places Rennes artists at the top of the basket at European level. We have never produced so many stop-motion films as in the last four or five years. The public wants to see real material on screen. For the record, it was the Penan, the indigenous people we see in the film, who made certain elements like the small rattan bags.”
France
