J.A. Bayona (‘Society of the Snow’ director): ‘The scope of this story is much bigger than I thought’

Denton Davidson
·2 min read
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“To go back home with my people to shoot a movie was fantastic,” says director J.A. Bayona, whose film “Society of the Snow” has been selected as Spain’s entry for Best International Feature at the 96th Academy Awards. “Every time I work in Hollywood I bring my people with me. It’s been a whole journey. I did my first movies in Spain, ‘The Orphanage,’ ‘The Impossible’ and ‘A Monster Calls.’ I established my voice. I wanted to show the world, ‘This is who I am.’ I moved to Hollywood. Then, doing this film after so many years, this is where I really like to be. I’m going back to my people. Being selected for the Oscars was extraordinary.”

We talked with Bayona as part of Gold Derby’s special “Meet the Experts” Q&A event with 2023/2024 awards contenders. Watch our exclusive video interview above.

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“Society of the Snow” is the incredible true story about a rugby team whose plane crashes on a glacier in the Andes. The few passengers who survive the crash find themselves in one of the world’s toughest environments to survive. It is an adaptation of Pablo Vierci‘s book of the same name, which documents accounts of all the survivors.

“I was so shocked about the human aspect of the book,” Bayona explains. “I found myself reading the book, crying for the people dying on that plane. Then I met the survivors and it was even better. The more I dug into the story the more I wanted to be involved. The scope of this story is much bigger than what I thought it was.”

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