Catalan cinema competes with the world's best at the Oscars

Catalan cinema once more rubs shoulders with the best in the world tonight, as two films compete at the Academy Awards in Los Angeles, California, on Sunday. 

The Oscars ceremony is set to get underway at midnight Catalan time, which will be 4 pm locally on the west coast of the United States of America. 

Two productions with ties to Catalonia are vying for honors tonight in three different categories. 

Catalan filmmaker J. A. Bayona's latest work, 'Society of the Snow', is competing for Best International Feature and Best Makeup and Hairstyling, while the Catalan-produced 'Robot Dreams' is nominated for Best Animated Feature. 

The films of J. A. Bayona and Pablo Berger follow in the footsteps of thirteen past films with Catalan talent that have competed in Hollywood, although only two have returned with a statuette.

The feat was first accomplished by Néstor Almendros in 1979, when he picked up the Oscar award for Best Cinematography for Terrence Malick's 'Days of Heaven'.

The second film with Catalan participation to take home an Oscar was 'Pan's Labyrinth', when Montse Ribé and David Martí won the award for Best Makeup in 2007.

The same pair, Ribé and Martí, are behind the makeup and hairstyling of 'Society of the Snow', meaning Sunday is their chance to pick up their second Oscar.