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

Posted on September 20, 2023 by Tom Castaneda

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.

The 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.

Starring 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

Posted on July 22, 2023 by Tom Castaneda

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).

The 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.

The 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 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. 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.

Guillermo del Toro to Receive VES Award for Creative Excellence from Visual Effects Society

Posted on February 18, 2022 by Tom Castaneda

Guillermo del Toro is being celebrated for his creative genius…

The 57-year-old Mexican Oscar-winning film director, producer, screenwriter and author will receive the Visual Effects Society’s career honor next month.

del Toro, a two-time Oscar winner for The Shape of Water — whose credits also include such effect-laden films as Pan’s Labyrinth, Blade II and the Pacific Rim and Hellboy films — will pick up the VES Award for Creative Excellence during the 20th anniversary VES Awards on March 8 at the Beverly Hilton.

“Guillermo is a fiercely inventive storyteller, who has pushed the boundaries of filmmaking,” VES Board Chair Lisa Cooke said. “An exemplary talent, he has consistently elevated not just the technical aspect of visual effects but also the emotional.”

Del Toro is up for the Best Picture Academy Award again this year for Nightmare Alley, his reimagining of the gritty 1947 noir Nightmare Alley.

The film starring Bradley Cooper and Cate Blanchett has four total Oscar nominations and will vie for Outstanding Supporting Visual Effects in a Photoreal Feature at the VES Awards.

Along with his writing and directing credits, del Toro also is a prolific producer of such acclaimed and successful films as The Orphanage, Julia’s Eyes, Biutiful, Kung Fu Panda 2, Puss in Boots and Mama.

He studied makeup effects with legendary artist Dick Smith; spent 10 years as a special-effects makeup designer; and formed his own company, Necropia.

The VES Award for Creative Excellence recognizes individuals who’ve made significant and lasting contributions to the art and science of the visual effects industry by uniquely and consistently creating compelling and creative imagery in service to story, per the group.

“Guillermo is an amazing creative force and a defining voice in our global community, and his body of work is a rich source of inspiration for future generations of artists and innovators,” Cooke added.

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

Posted on November 29, 2021 by Tom Castaneda

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.

Based 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.”

Bayona’s “A Monster Calls” Wins Big at Spain’s Goya Awards

Posted on February 6, 2017 by Tom Castaneda

J.A. Bayona is celebrating a monster night…

The 41-year-old Spanish filmmaker took home the Best Director prize at the Spanish Film Academy’s Goya Awards ceremony over the weekend, while his film A Monster Calls proved to be the night’s big winner with nine awards.

Bayona’s tale of a boy who faces his mother’s illness with the help of a monster had received 12 nominations.

Bayona, won the Best New Director award in 2008 for his name-making film The Orphanage, celebrated each award for A Monster Calls as if it were his first successful film, instead of the third in a highly acclaimed trilogy centering on the mother-child relationship. He dedicated his award to all who suffer from cancer and to his father, who taught him the transformative power of culture.

Meanwhile, Raul Arevalo’s directorial debut Fury of a Patient Man took the top award, Best Picture, while the 37-year-old Spanish filmmaker won the best new director and best original screenplay prizes.

Pedro Almodovar was on hand to celebrate his lead actress Emma Suarez’s special night, as she walked away with two Goya statuettes for her roles in his films Julieta and La Proxima Piel. But Almodovar, who will be the first Spaniard to chair the Cannes Film Festival jury in May, didn’t win in any of the six other categories in which his film competed.

Here’s the complete list of winners:

Film
Fury of a Patient Man

Director
J.A. Bayona for A Monster Calls

New Director
Raul Arevalo for Fury of a Patient Man

Original Screenplay
David Pulido, Raul Arevalo for Fury of a Patient Man

Adapted Screenplay
Alberto Rodriguez, Rafael Cobos for Smoke and Mirrors

Original Score
Fernando Velazquez for A Monster Calls

Original Song
“Ai, Ai, Ai” by Silvia Perez Cruz for Cerca de tu Casa

Lead Actor
Roberto Alamo for May God Save Us

Lead Actress
Emma Suarez for Julieta

Supporting Actor
Manolo Solo for Fury of a Patient Man

Supporting Actress
Emma Suarez for La proxima piel

New Actor
Carlos Santos for Smoke and Mirrors

New Actress
Anna Castillo for El Olivo

Production Design
Sandra Hermida Muniz for A Monster Calls

Photography
Oscar Faura for A Monster Calls

Editing
Bernat Vilplana, Jaume Marti for A Monster Calls

Artistic Director
Eugenio Caballero for A Monster Calls

Wardrobe
Paola Torres for 1898. The End of the Philippines

Makeup and Hair
David Marti, Marese Langan for A Monster Calls

Sound
Marc Orts, Oriol Tarrago, Peter Glossop for A Monster Calls

Special Effects
Felix Berges, Pau Costa for A Monster Calls

Animated Feature
Psiconautas, los ninos olivdados

Documentary Feature
Fragil Equilibrio

Ibero-American Film
El Ciudadano Ilustre by Gaston Duprat, Mariano Cohn

European Film
Elle by Paul Verhoeven

Fiction Short
Timecode by Juanjo Giemenz Pena

Documentary Short
Cabezas Habladoras by Juan Vicente Cordoba

Animated Short
Decorado by Alberto Vazquez

Honorary Goya
Ana Belen

Sanchez to Make Directing Debut with Fox’s Sci-Fi Thriller “Marrowbone”

Posted on July 9, 2016 by Tom Castaneda

Sergio G. Sanchez is preparing to go behind the lens…

The 42-year-old Spanish screenwriter is set to make his directing debut with Fox’s upcoming sci-fi thriller Marrowbone.

The psychological thriller is being executive produced by J.A. Bayona, who directed Sanchez’s script for The Orphanage and The Impossible, which Sanchez co-wrote.

Marrowbone centers on four children who hide from the world after their mother’s death on a farm that holds a terrible secret.

Anya Taylor-Joy, Mia Goth, George Mackay and Charlie Heaton co-star.

Bayona to Helm Space Film for Warner Bros.

Posted on January 27, 2013 by Tom Castaneda

Juan Antonio Bayona has reportedly landed his next Hollywood project…

The 37-year-old Spanish filmmaker, who earned rave reviews for directing Naomi Watts to an Oscar nomination in The Impossible, has been set to helm the still-untitled space film from Forrest Gump scribe Eric Roth for Warner Bros., according to Deadline.com.

Bayona previously earned a Goya Award for Best New Director for helming The Orphanage.

He’s currently nominated for the Goya Award for Best Director for helming The Impossible, which was based on the true story of one family’s experience during the 2004 tsunami.

Bayona’s “The Impossible” Breaks Box Office Records in Spain

Posted on October 15, 2012 by Tom Castaneda

Juan Antonio Bayona has an impossible hit on his hands…

The 37-year-old Spanish filmmaker’s powerful recreation of the 2004 tsunami, The Impossible, has broken the all-time Spanish box office records for the biggest four-day opening, with 10.3 million euros ($13.3 million) and 1.4 million tickets sold.

Warner Bros. released Bayona’s highly anticipated film, a follow-up to his critically acclaimed The Orphanage, over a three-day weekend after receiving rave reviews at festivals in Toronto, San Sebastian and Sitges.

The film, which stars Ewan McGregor and Naomi Watts as a British couple vacationing with their three children in Thailand when the natural disaster strikes, features some intense scenes that forced paramedics to wheel people out on stretchers at festival screenings.

“The Impossible is the proof that in Spain we can make films that compete with Hollywood,” said Telecinco Cinema CEO Ghislain Barrois. “At Telecinco Cinema, we are proud to have worked again with Juan Antonio Bayona, whose opera prima we co-produced. And to have partners like Apaches Entertainment with us in the adventure.”

Grossing $11.6 million in the first three days, Impossible looks poised to outperform previous first three-day record-holders, Disney’s Pirates of the Caribbean: At World’s End ($11.45 million) and The Da Vinci Code, ($11.38 million).

Lionsgate will release The Impossible in the United States on December 21.

Bayona’s “The Impossible” Set to Open in the U.S. in December

Posted on July 21, 2012 by Tom Castaneda

The rose to acclaim after directing the Goya Award-winning The Orphanage… And, now J.A. Bayona is returning with another highly anticipated film.

Lionsgate has scheduled the 37-year-old Spanish filmmaker’s latest project, The Impossible, to open in New York and Los Angeles on December 21st.

Bayona’s film, with stars Naomi Watts and Ewan McGregor, centers on a family that survived the 2004 Indian Ocean tsunami, which killed more than 230,000 people in 14 countries.

Bayana Named CineEurope’s International Director of the Year

Posted on June 21, 2012 by Tom Castaneda

He rose to fame after directing the critically acclaimed Spanish-language horror film The Orphanage, which earned him a Goya Award for Best New Director… And, now Juan Antonio Bayana has another award to put on his mantle…

The 37-year-old Spanish filmmaker picked up the international director of the year award at CineEurope, Europe’s top cinema convention during the show’s annual awards luncheon in Bayana’s hometown of Barcelona.

Following The Orphanage—his big debut film, a visceral ghost story set in a former children’s refuse—Bayana has returned with The Impossible, which stars Ewan McGregor, Naomi Watts and Geraldine Chaplin. It’s a tale of a family battling to survive the aftermath of a devastating South East Asian tsunami.

Summit Entertainment is planning to release the movie in the United States later this year while Spaniards will see it on the big screen in October.

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