'The Harvester' Reframes Serial Killer Story Around Women — SkimNews
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- David Pérez Sañudo directed 'The Harvester,' which world premiered at San Sebastián and stars Antonio de la Torre as 19th-century serial killer Juan Díaz de Garayo (known as Sacamantecas), with the director explicitly stating he had no interest in making the killer the center of the story.
- Patricia López Arnaiz plays Ángela, a woman defined by 19th-century ideas of honor and prescribed gender roles, whose personal conflicts around family and single-motherhood stigma become 'inseparable from the film's political dimension' — López Arnaiz argued the film is 'very current' because systemic violence against women persists.
- Antonio de la Torre described his approach to Garayo as 'very animalistic,' a man who struggles to express himself and is more physical than verbal, adding: 'Violence has no justification, but it does have an explanation.'
- The production carried a reported €10 million ($11.7 million) budget — a sizable undertaking for Basque cinema — shooting for nearly 11 weeks across more than 35 locations with over 3,000 extras, produced by Andalusia's La Claqueta and Pérez Sañudo's Amania Films as a Spain-Belgium co-production with Belgium's Caviar.
- Pérez Sañudo said the filmmakers deliberately kept violence restrained after wrestling with how to portray Garayo without turning violence against women into spectacle — the first murder is shot statically in a wide shot from across a river.
- Historical research revealed that shortly before his execution, Garayo reportedly expressed a desire to learn to read and write; that detail led the filmmakers to explore the surrounding society's poverty, political upheaval, civil war and violence rather than seek a psychological explanation for one man's crimes.
- Distribution is handled by Buena Vista International for Spanish theatrical release and Latido Films for international sales, with participation from EITB, RTVE and Prime Video and backing from Spanish and Basque public institutions.
Why it matters: The €10 million budget, 11-week shoot across 35+ locations and 3,000+ extras mark a notable scale-up for Basque cinema, financed through a Spain-Belgium co-production with Prime Video participation. Its deliberate decentering of the killer in favor of women's perspectives, backed by Buena Vista International for Spanish theatrical release, represents an unusual counterprogramming approach to true-crime narratives.
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