Cameras, flashes, and a rigorous list to enter the Casa Seat in Barcelona this afternoon. Despite efforts to maintain discretion, many passers-by have realized that something out of the ordinary could happen. “What presentation is on?” a woman asked while she looked out the window looking for answers. “Today we talk about The Snow Society,” a press colleague answered while she was preparing the tripod. He wants to have everything ready for when J. A. Bayona arrives, as it is his first public act since on Tuesday they announced the Oscar nomination in the category of best international film for his latest work, based on the epic after the plane crash in the Andes of 1972.
The Barcelona filmmaker has come to Paseo de Gràcia to accompany photographer Quim Vives at the book presentation of the photo book En la Sociedad de la Nieve, which covers the film's production process. Santi Vaca, the performer who brings one of the survivors of the tragedy to life on the big screen, was also present at the event.
“I feel very happy because it has been a very big effort, of many years and of many people. The international film category is a very complicated category, surely the most difficult. Because with a film in Spanish you have to speak twice as loudly, knock on the door more times and defend them every day. Films in English, on the other hand, go alone,” he answered the usual question.
It is the first photobook of a shoot that Vives does. “Bayona usually makes books of his work. It was something that I had in mind to do at some point and I suppose that working together and the project itself has led to it,” she acknowledged before an audience that did not mind being mostly standing. And there were more people interested in everything that the ribbon involved than the chairs available, despite the fact that it was a ticketed event. It may have been because part of the crew did not want to miss the event, which in turn allowed us to learn more details during the question period about the filming process, such as the fact that there was not enough snow to recreate what was experienced that October early 70's.
The obstacles did not prevent the experience from being “extraordinary,” in Bayona's words. Vives believes that part of the merit is due to the fact that “at all times we were a group, like the true survivors. I realized a month and a half after it all started that, without realizing it, we had achieved a very beautiful closeness. And I wasn't very talkative, especially at the beginning. I was very focused on photography and little else. But it didn't matter. In the mountains we create something together.”
Awakening feelings, both among the spectators and among the team itself, is something that matters a lot to Bayona. “The first movie I saw was Superman. It aroused fascination and amazement in me to see a man flying in blue tights and red underwear. That amazement is what I want to convey when making films. I hope I can achieve it.”
