The snow society is on everyone’s lips. The emotional and spectacular tribute by J.A. Bayona to the survivors and those killed in the Andes air tragedy of 1972 has enthused audiences and critics alike. His career has been unstoppable since its world premiere at the closing gala of the Venice Film Festival. Viewers have gone out of their way to enjoy it both in theaters, where it landed on December 15, and on Netflix, where it has broken records with 51 million views in just 11 days on the platform.
It has been nominated, among other awards, for the Golden Globes, the Forqué, the Critics Choice, the Bafta, it is up for 13 nominations at the Goya and for best international film and best makeup and hairstyling at the Oscars. However, at the Gaudí awards ceremony, which will take place on February 4, it only has options for best European film. How is it possible that such an ambitious work with Catalan talent does not participate in the most relevant categories? many ask themselves. “The Gaudí, as with other film awards in the world, have bases and requirements. It is the production companies that enter the films and the first thing they do is read the requirements they meet and accept the rules of the game. The society of When snow enters the Gaudí Awards, it knows that it does so with the possibility of competing in the best European film category,” Laia Aubia, director of the Catalan Film Academy, explains to La Vanguardia.
The institution does not have a State behind it as is the case with the Goyas, because it belongs to an autonomous community and “does not have the ‘passport’ that academies such as the Spanish, French or British do have, which set the criterion that the film has the nationality of that country. In Spain it is the Ministry of Culture that issues this official document. In Catalonia there is no certificate of Catalan nationality. The only thing there is is a certificate that all films have that establishes the production percentages and their origin. For this reason, the Catalan Academy is looking for a way to regulate this part, which in state academies is automatic. And here is a reflection from the beginning of the Gaudí awards, which is to reward and make visible film production in Catalonia and the craft of cinema in Catalonia”.
Aubia maintains that it is very important “to recognize Catalan cinematographic talent, but without an industry that supports this talent, in two years the Gaudí awards will end.” In this way, the Academy considers that a film is Catalan, for the purposes of the awards, if it is owned at least 20% by a production company domiciled in Catalonia. And, on the other hand, this Catalan production must have professionals and elements of Catalanness to add six objective points. Thus, the recognition of professional talent is measured with a table in which producer, director and screenwriter have two points each, while categories such as production direction, actors, cinematography, costumes, editing, visual effects, makeup and hairdressing , original music or sound add one point each.
“This is the balance that the Academy seeks. For a film to have a Catalan production company but not have any Catalan professional, it makes no sense for it to compete for the Gaudí awards in a category other than best European film, in the same way that a film that does not have a Catalan production company but does have talent from here”. This is the case of The Snow Society, which more than covers the points of professionalism but does not have a Catalan production. “It is our way of encouraging Catalan production, which in the end is the basis for talent to develop,” says Aubia.
The bases of the Gaudí awards, which are decided by the Academy as a cultural association, “are bases that are alive and that change year after year and adjust to the reality of the sector.” This year one of the changes has occurred in the original music category, where it is requested that there be a minimum percentage of music in the film and that of this percentage there is a minimum that is original. “The audiovisual sector is changing a lot and the issue of the logic of film financing causes cases like that of The Snow Society and many others to occur” because “in the end one creates an architecture of companies with headquarters in places due to many conditions: aid, tax relief, co-productions… and the Gaudí awards cannot ignore this situation.
In the words of the director of the Catalan Academy, “a film is not only made with talent, it is made with investment and the key is balance. The audiovisual sector in Catalonia is interested in the industrial muscle being strong. We have spent many years with loss of muscles. In 2010, Catalan production compared to the total of the State was over 50% and in 2020 it suddenly went below 30%. We cannot lose specific weight of production because in the end it affects people having to leave to work outside.”
The snow society is not the first nor will it be the last to experience this situation. Last year As bestas could not compete in the Gaudí for the opposite reason. Although Rodrigo Sorogoyen’s film, which swept the Goya Awards, had plenty of Catalan production, his team did not reach the percentage of Catalan professionals. The same situation was experienced by Five Little Wolves, the brilliant debut about motherhood by Alauda Ruiz de Azúa, which won the Gaudí award for best European film. “These are things that we talk about with the production companies and the reflection is constant. I don’t know if next year we will change, I don’t know what… but there are also wonderful moments like Robot Dreams, the first Catalan animated film to be nominated for the Oscars and here We’re going to show our chests,” he says proudly.
In fact, its director, Bilbao-born Pablo Berger, won four Gaudí statuettes in 2012 for Snow White, including best film, for his silent, black and white version of the popular Grimm tale. That same year, Bayona accumulated six awards for The Impossible, also for European film. Aubia refers to Bayona as “a present and active academic” and that The Snow Society is not in the Gaudí Awards this year “does not mean that all the Catalan talent of the team is not recognized by the Academy. In previous editions Laura Pedro , a reference in visual effects, has won several Gaudí awards and is an academic. When the production has been Catalan, J.A. Bayona has won, and when not, he has presented awards. The relationship and recognition also passes through other frameworks,” he concludes. .
