Spain has chosen J.A. Bayona’s disaster thriller “Society of the Snow” as its official submission for the Best International Feature category at the 2024 Oscars, marking the director’s second time representing Spain and Netflix’s first.
The film, which had its world premiere as the closing feature of the Venice Film Festival, explores the real-life Uruguayan 1972 Andes flight disaster based on Pablo Vierci’s book.
This marks Spain’s first selection of a Netflix film for the international feature category. Spain has a strong track record in this category, with four wins and 20 nominations, most recently winning in 2004 for “The Sea Inside.”
Bayona’s previous representation for Spain was with his 2007 film “The Orphanage,” which was also his last Spanish-language film.
“Society of the Snow” tells the harrowing story of a plane carrying mostly young rugby players from Uruguay that crashed in the Andes, with only 16 survivors who endured extreme conditions, including cannibalism, for 72 days to stay alive.
Bayona’s film is unique in that it focuses on the entire “society” on board the plane and involves the survivors and the families of those who perished, even using their real names.