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A mother’s death set the stage for “My Life as a Zucchini,” the heartsore 2016 Swiss stop-motion that landed director Claude Barras an Oscar nomination for best animated feature. Now, the passing of a different maternal figure at the hands of unscrupulous men ignites the filmmaker’s eco-conscious, anti-colonial follow-up “Savages.” When a female orangutan is killed by loggers on the Indonesian island of Borneo, 11-year-old Kéria (Babette De Coster) and her father Mutang (Benoît Poelvoorde) adopt her adorable offspring and name it Oshi. Kéria becomes immediately protective of the young ape.

“Savages” deems those willing to enact such violence against other living creatures as uncivilized brutes, destroying the Earth for money while Indigenous peoples live in accordance with age-old principles of coexistence with nature. A musical number in Disney’s “Pocahontas” contrasted the same notions. Yet, even if departing from a rather obvious, if timely, environmentalist premise, Barras and...

Films about the ecological stakes of contemporary life often center the results of unfettered human consumption. By showing the abuses suffered by the environment, they function as both an urgent warning and a desperate plea. Claude Barras takes a different route in Savages (Sauvages), his incisive and edifying animated feature about an 11-year-old girl trying to protect her land and people from encroaching deforestation.

Premiering at Cannes, Savages focuses on elemental beauty and the dignity of community-driven preservation. It is the latest film from the Swiss director whose last film My Life as a Zucchini premiered at Cannes in 2016 and went on to critical acclaim and an Oscar nomination. As in that movie, Barras does not condescend to or patronize his youngest audience members. Savages, written by Barras and Catherine Paillé in collaboration with Morgan Navarro and Nancy Huston, is uncompromising in its messaging, deceptively spare in its instruction and absolutely gorgeous to look at.

The best part of “Savages” is its opening scene, which says less about the overall quality of Claude Barras’ sophomore feature and more about the strength of the vignette that establishes the stop-motion movie’s world. Against atmospheric music, the quote “The world does not belong to us. We borrow it from our children” flashes on screen, followed by images of a lushly rendered clay forest, brimming with life and energy. An adorable baby orangutan is briefly threatened by a small but deadly snake, before being rescued and cared for by his protective mother. Atop a tree, the mother gently breastfeeds her young son, in an idyllic image that is quickly disrupted by the sound of chainsaws, and abruptly, the tree falls to the ground, revealing a construction site filled with lumber and a factory spewing pollution into the air. The title “Savages” comes on screen against this image, and...

“My Life As a Zucchini” director Claude Barras has set up his latest stop-motion animated feature, “Savages!”

Production company Gebeka International — a Hildegarde-Goodfellas company formed in 2021 — and production, financing and sales studio Anton are behind the project, which will be written by Barras and Catherine Paille (“Magnetic Beasts”). The project will be shopped to buyers in Cannes next week.

“Savages!” follows the emotional journey of a girl, her father and a rescued baby orangutan. The film has a strong environmental and conservationist message, exploring the crisis of the destruction of rainforests.

An official synopsis for the film reads as follows: “In Borneo, at the edge of the tropical forest, Kéria is given a baby orangutan that has been rescued from the palm oil plantation where her father works. At the same time, Kéria’s younger cousin Selaï comes to live with her and her father as he seeks refuge from...

Nancy Huston has won the 2012 Bad Sex in Fiction Award for her novel Infrared. Established in 1993, the prize from Literary Review is given to the author who pens the worst sex scene in a novel. Huston was only the third woman to win the prize, which was announced by Downton Abbey actress Samantha Bond at last night's ceremony at London's Naval & Military Club. "I hope this prize will incite thousands of British women to take close-up photos of their lovers' bodies in all states of array and disarray," said Huston's publicist, picking up the award on her behalf. Infrared is about a photographer who takes infra-red photographs of her lovers during sex. "The purpose of the prize is to draw attention to the crude, badly written, often perfunctory use of redundant passages of sexual description in the modern novel, (more)...

Nancy Huston has won the 2012 Bad Sex in Fiction Award for her novel Infrared. Established in 1993, the prize from Literary Review is given to the author who pens the worst sex scene in a novel. Huston was only the third woman to win the prize, which was announced by Downton Abbey actress Samantha Bond at last night's ceremony at London's Naval & Military Club. "I hope this prize will incite thousands of British women to take close-up photos of their lovers' bodies in all states of array and disarray," said Huston's publicist, picking up the award on her behalf. Infrared is about a photographer who takes infra-red photographs of her lovers during sex. "The purpose of the prize is to draw attention to the crude, badly written, often perfunctory use of redundant passages of sexual description in the modern novel, (more)...

London, December 5: 'Fifty Shades of Grey' author El James, who was expected to be among the prizes at the Bad Sex in Fiction Award presented by the Literary Review, did not face any further derision for her "mummy porn" at the ceremony.

Instead, the "honour" for bad sex at another ceremony went to Nancy Huston for her novel 'Infrared'.

Despite missing out on the tongue-in-cheek award, James did claimed the prize for Popular Fiction Book of the Year at the Specsavers National Book Awards.

The erotic novel saw off competition from five other books including Bernard Cornwell's historical novel 1356 and Kate Mosse's Citadel.

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Open letter: Women may adorn the awards ceremony and prettify the posters, but, mon dieu, don't let them behind the camera

"What has changed in cinema? Everything has changed!" exclaimed Gilles Jacob, president of the Cannes film festival, during the presentation of the 65th Cannes festival film nominations. Everything?! For one second, we trembled. But for no reason, it turned out, as the 22 officially selected movies – happy coincidence – were directed by 22 men. This 65th festival will end up giving the precious award to a male director for the 63rd time, defending the masculine values that give the seventh art its nobility.

Only once did the Cannes film festival lose heart. In 1993, the Palme d'Or was indeed awarded to Jane Campion. And last year, doubtless due to a lack of vigilance, four women somehow sneaked in among the 20 people nominated in the official competition. Thierry Frémeaux, the festival's director general, correctly...