'A miracle or a tragedy': J.A. Bayona's latest movie closes Venice Film Festival

Juan Antonio Bayona, more commonly known as J.A. Bayona, latest movie is the story of either "a miracle or a tragedy," as he told the Catalan News Agency (ACN) ahead of the film closing the 2023 Venice Film Festival.

The 'Society of the Snow' tells the story of what has been called the Miracle of the Andes, where over a dozen passengers of the Uruguayan Air Force Flight 571 survived for 72 days in the Valle de las Lágrimas valley between Chile and Argentina in October 1972. Overall, 29 passengers out of the 45 who traveled survived, and only 16 of them were able to make it back home.

Bayona, who is well known for his previous feature films such as 'Lo Imposible,' 'A Monster Calls,' and 'The Orphanage,' tells the story of the "wish to survive" against a world that has completely abandoned them, as he told ACN ahead of the movie's premiere in the 80th edition of the most famous Italian film festival.

The event that took place in the 70s is "the story where heroes are not the only ones that made it back, but those who made it possible for others to return," the Catalan film director said. For him, the movie is "a trip to darkness."

Recording the movie was no easy task, as actors filmed in the Catalan city of Terrassa, in Spain's Sierra Nevada mountains, and in the Andes mountains.

"We cannot talk about life leaving aside the darkest moments. There cannot be light if there are no shadows. I believe this is what makes this story most interesting, as it is possible to talk about light and darkness at the same time," he added.

During the last years, the story has taken a very "blockbuster style, where we talked about the heroes that came back, but not about those who made it possible. Those anonymous heroes of which the press did not talk about," he added.

Learn more about J.A. Bayona by listening to our Filling the Sink podcast episode.

Accompanying Bayona was Pablo Vierci, author of the book on which the movie was based. 

"I allowed myself to be moved, to go to unfathomable depths, and to be marveled. And I got to be close to this story, as an external person, but very close because both the dead and the survivors were my friends, school colleagues, classmates. I have mixed feelings because they explained the story to me in private, trusting I would never betray them, but we understood that J.A. Bayona was going to do exactly the same. I would never get to betray the deepest moments, and we let J.A. Bayona lead us," he said.

The movie is expected to be released globally by the end of the year on Netflix.