Legarreta's 'The Blind Ants' Premieres at San Sebastián — SkimNews
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- "The Blind Ants" world premiered Sept. 18 at the 74th San Sebastián International Film Festival's Zinemira section, where it competes for the Irizar Award for Basque Cinema; Buena Vista International Spain will release it theatrically Oct. 9.
- Legarreta adapted the film from Ramiro Pinilla's novel about the Jauregui family, who brave a violent storm on the Biscay coast in 1930 to salvage coal from a stranded English ship; he described the result as a "coastal Western."
- The ensemble cast features Urko Olazábal (Goya winner for "Maixabel"), Itziar Ituño ("Money Heist"), Josean Bengoetxea, Miren Gaztañaga, and Carlos Santos, with Legarreta reuniting with Ituño after their collaboration on "All the Moons."
- The production is a Basque-Belgian co-production led by Lamia Producciones alongside Lazona Zinema, Buendía Estudios Bizkaia, and others, with Caviar Antwerp as co-producer; Playtime handles international sales.
- The shoot took place entirely in Bizkaia, and the crew built a massive set to safely control the elements during the extended stormy cliff sequences that fill half of Pinilla's novel.
Why it matters: With Lamia Producciones, multiple Basque studios, Belgian co-producer Caviar, and Playtime handling international sales, 'The Blind Ants' deploys an unusually large production apparatus for a Basque-language film. Legarreta's 'coastal Western' framing repositions Pinilla's regional novel for a global festival circuit, with the Oct. 9 Spanish release via Buena Vista as the first commercial test of whether this coalition-driven, high-production-value approach connects with domestic audiences.
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