Juan Antonio Bayona will represent Spain at the Oscars. The Academy of Cinematographic Arts and Sciences of Spain has unveiled the film that will represent our country in the category of Best International Film in the next edition of the golden statuette, number 96: The Snow Society, which relives the disaster air raid in the Andes that led survivors to extreme conditions, including cannibalism. A film backed by Netflix that will have its support in the race for the golden statuette. “With Netflix we have talked about going for other nominations, not just the foreign film one,” Bayona revealed at the Film Academy after learning of the nomination.
The academics have chosen among 20,000 species of bees, Estibaliz Urresola’s debut film, about trans childhoods; Close your eyes, the return to the feature film by Víctor Erice, which narrates the mysterious disappearance of an actor; and The Snow Society, signed by J.A. Bayona, who has finally been nominated, a choice that has moved the director. “After seven years filming abroad, not feeling like a stranger when I return, because I still live in Barcelona, ??excites me,” he confessed.
“This film is a rare bird, it has taken us 10 years to finance a film like this in Spanish. That it competes head-to-head with American films in a different language makes me very happy. It has been a strong bet, working with Uruguayan actors and unknown Argentinians, a months-long casting. Seven weeks of rehearsals, 140 days of filming to live the trip with them. “I get excited when I see my actors,” he noted with moist eyes as he looked at the young actor Enzo Vogrincic, sitting next to him. during the press conference and that he lost 20 kilos for filming and that he said that “as actors, we come from doing theater, carrying furniture with friends to do it, and suddenly this movie appears, leaving the body there has been a incredible experience”.
“It is a film about actors,” Bayona stressed, “and as such I have faced it. It is different from my other films, rather than filming it I was exploring it, trying to get us all under the skin, it is much more organic.” And she pointed out that a month ago they showed it in Los Angeles to Hollywood academics “and the response was very good.” “We came running with the film almost unfinished to show it to Madrid and I went back to the mixing room, retouching the special effects. We thought we weren’t going to make it and we made it,” he explained, satisfied.
And he has underlined the Spanish element of the film: “In Los Angeles there was an executive surprised to see 13 minutes of credits with all the names in Spanish, as if there were a Marvel movie made entirely by Spaniards. Since The Orphanage and The Impossible I have bet because with Spanish talent films were made that were competitive with those from abroad”. A film that does not yet have a release date, but which, he has assured, will be before being seen on Netflix and in many cinemas, and he has indicated that they have many festivals in October and November to give clues about the possible date.
The director of the Film Academy, Fernando Méndez-Leite, recalled that the Oscar race for The Snow Society now begins in a category that is one of the most contested. “Being nominated is a very complicated task and winning the golden statuette is even more so,” although he recalled that “Spain is, along with Denmark, the third country with the most Oscars in the category of Best International Film, four: Starting over, of Garci, Belle Epoque, by Trueba, All About My Mother, by Almodóvar, and The Sea Inside, by Amenábar, which have starred in historic moments for Spanish cinema.”
Now, he stressed, The Snow Society “must pass the first cut of the well-known shortlist on December 21, then on January 23 the 5 nominees will be announced and on March 12, 2024 the ceremony will be in Los Angeles.”
Bárbara Lennie –Goya for Best Female Lead Performance for Magical Girl–, read the chosen production. The actress has been accompanied by the president of the Academy and the notary Eva Fernández Medina.
