Catalan director J.A. Bayona to represent Spain at Oscars

"Society of the Snow" by Catalan film director J.A. Bayona has been selected to represent Spain at the 2024 edition of the Oscars as announced on Wednesday by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences. 

The film 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.

The movie was presented at the 2023 Venice Film Festival and the director received a 10 minute standing ovation.

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.

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.