Spain Selects J.A. Bayona’s “Society of Snow” as Its Entry for the Oscars’ Best International Feature Film Race

J.A. Bayona is in the running for a potential Academy Award

Spain has selected the 48-year-old Spanish filmmaker’s latest film, Society of the Snow as its entry for the Best International Feature Film race at the 2024 Oscars.

J.A. BayonaThe announcement marks the first time a Netflix-backed film has been selected by Spain and the second time J.A. Bayona has made the cut following his 2007 film The Orphanage.

Society of the Snow closed this year’s Venice Film Festival. Based on the book of the same name by Pablo Vierci, first published in 2008, the film charts the story of the 45 people who, on October 13, 1972, boarded Uruguayan Air Force Flight 571 from Montevideo to Chile. There were five crew members on board and 40 passengers, including 19 members of the Old Christians Club rugby team. Tragedy struck when the pilot began his descent too early, crashing into the Andes and killing 12 immediately. The survivors clung to the belief that help was coming, but none did. After weeks of hunger, having exhausted everything in the plane’s hold, they were forced to do the unthinkable and eat the flesh of those who had died. The story was told by Frank Marshall in the 1993 film Alive.

J.A. Bayona, La Sociedad De La Nieve, Society of the SnowStarring in the Spanish-language film are Enzo Vogrincic, Matías Recalt, Agustín Pardella, Esteban Kukuriczka and Tomas Wolf.

The film is produced by Belén Atienza, Sandra Hermida and Bayona. The screenplay comes from Bayona, Bernat Vilaplana, Jaime Marques and Nicolás Casariego from the novel by Pablo Vierci. The director of photography is Pedro Luque.

Last year Spain selected Carla Simón’s Berlinale winner Alcarràs for the Best International Feature Film race. The film didn’t make the final shortlist.

J.A. Bayona’s “La Sociedad De La Nieve” to Have Its World Premiere at Venice Film Festival

J.A. Bayona’s latest project will have its big debut in Italy…

The Venice Film Festival will close with the world premiere of the 48-year-old Spanish Goya Award-winning filmmaker’s Netflix Spanish-language survival thriller La Sociedad De La Nieve (Society of the Snow).

J.A. BayonaThe latest film from The Orphanage and The Impossible director charts the iconic true story of a 1970s rugby team whose plane crashes on a glacier in the Andes.

The few passengers who survived the crash find themselves in one of the world’s toughest environments.

J.A. Bayona, La Sociedad De La Nieve, Society of the SnowThe story was told by Frank Marshall in 1993 film Alive.

The Out Of Competition screening will take place on September 9 in the Sala Grande of the Palazzo del Cinema after the awards ceremony.

Starring in the Spanish-language film are Enzo VogrincicMatías RecaltAgustín PardellaEsteban Kukuriczka and Tomas Wolf.

The film is produced by Belén AtienzaSandra Hermida and Bayona. The screenplay comes from Bayona, Bernat Vilaplana, Jaime Marques and Nicolás Casariego from the novel by Pablo Vierci. Director of photography is Pedro Luque.

Bayona is also known for movies A Monster Calls (2016) and Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom (2018), and for directing on series including Penny Dreadful (2014-2016) and The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power (2022).

Society of the Snow is his fifth feature film, and his first to be shot in Spanish in sixteen years.

J. A. Bayona to Direct Netflix’s Disaster Film “Society of the Snow”

J. A. Bayona is preparing for a disaster…

The 46-year-old Spanish Goya Award-winning film director will direct the Spanish-language disaster film Society of the Snow for Netflix.

J.A. BayonaBased on the book La sociedad de la nieve by Pablo Vierci, the film is set in 1972, charting the true story of what happens after an Uruguayan Air Force flight transporting a rugby team to Chile cashes on a glacier in the Andes. Only 29 of the 45 passengers survived the crash, finding themselves in one of the world’s toughest environments, forced to resort to extreme measures to stay alive.

Bayona, whose credits include The Impossible, The Orphanage and Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom, has written the screenplay with Bernat Vilaplana, Jaime Marques and Nicolás Casariego.

Producers are Belén Atienza and Sandra Hermida.

The film will shoot in Sierra Nevada (Andalucía, Spain), in Montevideo (Uruguay) and in various locations in the Andes (both in Chile and Argentina) including El Valle de las Lágrimas, the location where the real incident took place.

The cast will include Enzo Vogrincic Roldán, Matías Recalt, Agustín Pardella, Tomas Wolf, Diego Ariel Vegezzi, Esteban Kukuriczka, Francisco Romero, Rafael Federman, Felipe González Otaño, Agustín Della Corte, Valentino Alonso, Simón Hempe, Fernando Contigiani García, Benjamín Segura, Jerónimo Bosia.

“It was during the documentation process for The Impossible that I discovered Society of the Snow, Pablo Vierci’s fascinating chronicle about the tragedy of the Andes,” said From J. A. Bayona. “More than ten years later, my fascination for the novel remains intact and I am happy to face the challenge that lies ahead: To tell one of the most remembered events of the 20th century, with all the complexity that implies a story that gives so much relevance to the survivors as well as to those who never returned from the mountains. I also face it in Spanish, a language that I excitedly return to after 14 years without filming in my own language, and with a team of young Uruguayan and Argentine actors, whom I’m totally thrilled with.”