No Oscars joy for 'Society of the Snow' as it loses out in both nominated categories

'Society of the Snow' has missed out on Oscars joy, losing in both of the categories it was nominated for. 

'Poor Things' took home the award for Best Makeup and Hairstyling, while 'The Zone of Interest' was the winner of Best International Feature.

The American film Academy has made good on its unwritten rule that if a film is nominated for both Best Picture and Best International Feature, then it will win at least that second category. 

Catalan director J. A. Bayona's film tells the story of the survival of 16 passengers who were on board Uruguayan Air Force Flight 571 after crashing in the Andes mountains. 

Nevertheless, Bayona arrived in Los Angeles this week with the feeling of having his a job already done. The filmmaker has been working for months to promote his latest work 'Society of the Snow' among Hollywood academics, a huge task in an openly anglophone industry that is slowly becoming more permeable to new cinematography, and works in other languages.

Bayona didn't see his film as favorite in either of the categories, but he is content that the film is "loved very much."

"The success of 'Society of the Snow' is that it will be remembered by the public, which is the most difficult thing. Awards are fickle, they leave, but the film stays," he told the Catalan News Agency in Los Angeles on Oscars weekend.

International resonance

Bayona's latest work is based on Pablo Vierci's book, looking at the situation the survivors of the plane crash foudn themselves in, and how they survived for 72 days in the snow of the Andes moutnains. The film is a journey into the dark that speaks of the human condition from a "very bright" place, as Bayona himself said in an interview with the Catalan News Agency in Venice.

Like almost all of his works, J. A. Bayona again places his protagonists before the abyss of death, in a plot located in the Valley of Tears on the border between Chile and Argentina - a location which has recreated between Terrassa, the Sierra Nevada in Andalucia, and the real Andes mountains.

During the first seven weeks of the year, the Catalan director's film ranked third on Netflix worldwide with 81 million viewers, surpassed only by 'Lift' with 98.9 million viewers and the series 'Fool me once' with 90.5 million.

"The numbers of 'Society of the Snow' are incredible; it is difficult for a movie to hold this position in the Netflix rankings for so long," says film expert Pau Brunet.

Despite only being in theaters for three weeks, 'Society of the Snow' has sold nearly half a million tickets in Spanish theaters, generating €3.5 million, according to the Spanish Institute of Cinema and Audiovisual Arts (ICAA).

Bayona's film also outperformed all of its competing nominees in Spanish theaters, with 'Perfect Days' selling 192,000 tickets, 'The Zone of Interest' 135,000, 'The Teachers' Lounge' 135,000 and 'Io Capitano' 37,000.