The Harvesters

The Harvesters is a 2018 internationally co-produced drama film written and directed by Etienne Kallos. Set in rural South Africa, the film follows the coming of age of Janno, a shy 15-year-old farm boy who must contend with the arrival of a sudden new addition to the family and the desires this awakens within him. The setting and storyline were inspired by Kallos' travels around the remote Eastern Free State region of the country and his encounters with farm families there. The film is a psychological drama that explores themes of belonging, sexual identity and masculinity. The film premiered in the Un Certain Regard section of the 2018 Cannes Film Festival. Plot South Africa, Free State region, isolated stronghold of the Afrikaans white ethnic minority culture. In this conservative farming territory obsessed with strength and masculinity, Janno (Brent Vermeulen) is different, secretive, emotionally frail. One day his mother (Juliana Venter), fiercely religious, brings home Pieter (Alex van Dyk), a hardened street orphan she wants to save, and asks Janno to makes this stranger into his brother. The two boys start a fight for power, heritage and parental love.