J.A. Bayona was given a homecoming hero’s welcome at the San Sebastian Film Festival over the weekend as he touched down for the Spanish premiere of air crash survival drama Society Of The Snow.
The drama – recounting the experiences of the Uruguay rugby team whose plane crashed in the Andes mountains in Argentina in 1972 – was the closing film of Venice but in many ways its San Sebastian outing was a more momentous affair.
The screening came just three days after the film was announced as Spain’s entry for Best International Feature Film at the 96th Academy awards. The picture is Bayona’s first Spanish-language film since the 2007 title The Orphanage, which also represented Spain.
The director was given a rapturous reception on Friday night as he took to the stage in the company of one of the survivors Gustavo Zerbino. He was then feted over the weekend by local industry at a cocktail at the swanky Maria Cristina hotel organized by Netflix, which is also celebrating its first Spanish Oscar submission with Society of the Snow.
“It was the first time that we were showing the film in Spain. It was very emotional to be back home shooting in your language again, after 16 years. We had the warmest welcome you could imagine. You could feel the love for the movie at the end. There was a very long applause,” Bayona told Deadline on the fringes of the cocktail.
The director said the response was welcome after the complex shoot in Spain, Uruguay and then in freezing conditions at altitudes of 13,000 feet (3,900 metres) in the Andes Mountains of Chile and Argentina, including the actual crash site.
“We shot in very similar conditions to what they went through. The whole film has been like a journey where I went with my actors, hand in hand, through all the experiences, and very, very in touch with the families of the people who didn’t make it and the survivors,” said Bayona.
“We nurtured them [the actors] with as much information as possible and then we went through the experience chronologically. It was a very intense journey, where every head of department had to give their best in in very difficult conditions. Once you see the film with the audience, it pays off. I had the impression that they went through the same journey we did when we were doing the film.”
Bayona revealed the production team raced to finish the film in order to show it to the Spanish Academy of Arts and Cinematographic Sciences (AACCE) in time for consideration.
“It’s been a very tough journey… very, very hard to get here on time. We were finishing the film as we were showing it for the first time to the Academy members ahead of Venice. We were almost mixing the sound while we were showing the film to them,” he said.
“Then, right after that we got to Venice. We didn’t have time to process where we were at that moment. But here in San Sebastian, we’re more relaxed, more confident and it was a perfect night.”
Bayona has been put forward for consideration at the Academy Awards for his English-language films such The Impossible and A Monster Calls but has never been nominated before.
“For me, it’s like the best opportunity to make the film be seen by as many people as possible. It’s a film to be enjoyed on the biggest screen possible. Let’s see if we have the time to show it to all the Academy members on the big screen. That would be fantastic,” he said.
Bayona’s long-time producer Belén Atienza, who was also enjoying the San Sebastian vibe, agreed.
“Awards in themselves are great because they’re an acknowledgement for everyone involved, from the director to crew, but they also help the movie get seen everywhere. It gives a lot of visibility to the movie and when you do a movie, you want as much as people as possible to see it.”
The film is heading next to the Sitges Film Festival in early October and then on to Thierry Frémaux’s Lumière Film Festival in Lyon in mid-October.
Further Best International Feature Film candidates playing in San Sebastian this year including The Taste Of Things (France), Fallen Leaves (Finland), and Io Capitano (Italy).
The San Sebastian Film Festival runs September 22 to 30.
