Fat-shaming sinks to a new low in Piggy, a horror flick. The movie follows a young girl, Sara (Laura Galán ). She lives in a rural Spanish town. Sara hides in her parent’s butcher shop after being bullied by a group of ‘mean girls’ over her weight. Hence her nickname, Piggy. By chance, she finds out her tormentors have been brutally kidnapped by a stranger (Richard Holmes), an unlikely but heroic figure to Sara. Should she come to their aid or not? An ethical and moral dilemma comes into play.

The film is written and directed by Spain’s Carlota Pereda (Cerdita, There Will Be Monsters), who won the Goya award in 2019 when she presented Piggy as a short 15-minute film.

For a window into the moving narrative, here is what she said: “I always wanted to tell a story about bullying. It was shot in the same village where I made the short, a quiet Extremadura village near the Portuguese border. For me, the town was always linked to this story. It couldn’t be shot anywhere else.”

Pereda elaborates, going back in time: “The idea started when I saw a girl in the swimming pool unable to hide herself. It was summer, bodies are exposed, and you’re supposed to be having fun. It is a small town, where there is no escape. This created the perfect combination to make it as claustrophobic as possible.”

Shot in 6 weeks, Piggy welcomes the return of Galán. The actress also starred in 2019 the short film and remains the lead in both films. This feature length Piggy stars Carmen Machi, as Sara’s protective mother. The cast is rounded out by Claudia Salas, Irene Ferreiro, Camille Aguilar, Joe Pastor, Pilar Castro, and Chema del Barco.

Laura Galán found her way into the psyche of the long-suffering Sara/Piggy. “Once I read the plot of the film, I knew I needed to tell this story. I had to be comfortable to take on the role in my body and in my mind, in all of myself.”

The story can be interpreted in myriad ways. For some, the gut-wrenching premise unfolds as a love fantasy of sorts when the kidnapper witnessed the cruelty Sara had to endure. Galán adds, “The movie, in a way, is like a romance.” 

Carlota Pereda adds: “This film is a blanket of desires. The audience can project into him everything that they want him to be. For me, it was very interesting that he’s done something good for Sara. It feels good. It plays with this idea of how we find bad boys sexy. How interesting when they are sometimes really toxic. Or, in this sense, a serial killer. I wanted to explore that but, also, play with the audiences’ feelings with that.”

Galan was born and raised in Castilla La Mancha and is known for such roles as Cerdita (2018), when she first worked with Pereda. She also performed in The Man Who Killed Don Quixote (2018) and in Unknown Origins (2020).

For Galán, the film exposed her on many levels. Her relationship and level of trust with Pereda were paramount. “I’m grateful to Carlota for taking care of me through the film. She made it a safe space for everybody.”

Director Pereda offers, “For me, it was a question of following the character. I just followed Sara’s lead in the screenplay and tried to be as honest as I could. When shooting it, it had to be from Sara’s perspective,” Pereda says. “You had to experience the film through her.”