Juan Antonio, a discreet man, resident of Barcelona's working-class neighborhood of Nous Barris, left one of the best slogans in the Californian night of Los Angeles:
"Long live the cinema".
This octogenarian man, accompanied by his wife, Pietà, could never have imagined that at this point in his life he would make a transoceanic trip to the Oscars gala and be with his celluloid myths, the passion of an honest wall painter.
And that he would do it with the pride of a father who knows what it means to work hard to support a family with few resources.
"I told my son: 'you've arrived in Hollywood'!", he claims that he once told him that Jota Bayona, as the journalists call the little one in the house (his twin Carlos came out before the belly), he was left without an Oscar for La sociedad de la nieve.
Jota was stunned that her parents were here, accompanying her to the annual celebration of cinematic glamour, at the Dolby Theater on the Walk of Fame.
"He knows the sacrifice we made for him so that he could study without financial resources," confesses the father, who acknowledges his admiration for Al Pacino, who was in charge of presenting the last statuette of the 96th edition of the Oscars. "For me, he is a god", he says.
– More than his son?
- Let's not talk about him now!
Not everything goes through the son, exponent of the real meritocracy.
It's time to recap and go back to the beginning. The scene of this conversation is the Telefèric Barcelona restaurant, where Egeda (representing producers from Spain and Latin America) is organizing a parallel party to watch the gala (a technical disaster) and meeting point for family members, friends and members of the teams from the film Bayona and Robot dreams, by Pablo Berger, which has a Catalan production (Sandra Tapia, Ignasi Estapé...), in competition in the animation category.
About 700 guests attend the meeting (smiling Álvaro Morte) in which the party is mixed with tension. All four, which equal eight due to the splitting of personality, are the most requested of this alternative red carpet.
"I was the penultimate one to die", says Benjamín Segura or Rafael, el Vasco, Echavarren in La sociedad de la nieve. "There is a before and an after, not only as actors, but as people", he explains. Next to him, Simón Hempe, or José Luis. "I am one of the survivors", he explains. "We fell in love with history".
Both, like their colleagues Andy Pruss or Roy Harley, "I'm the one on the radio", and Juani Caruso, alter ego of Álvaro Mangino, rarely take a step and always cross paths with someone who is interested or want to share a photo.
In part, the triple sweet defeat was predicted. The first cross comes out shortly after the ceremony begins. There is a "let's go, let's go" when the award for the best animated film is announced. There was an aaah, tears of contained disappointment and a standing ovation for Robot dreams. "There will be another occasion", consoles Olivia Pliego, from the production company.
"The prize was to get here", reiterates Natàlia Garriga, Minister of Culture of the Generalitat, one of the financial institutions. Garriga also took advantage of these days to meet with audiovisual companies such as Netflix or Amazon.
The second cross appears after a short while. Ana López Puigcerver, Montse Ribé and David Martí do not get the statuette for make-up and hairdressing for the story of the survivors of the Andes air crash, on March 13, 1972.
Another parenthesis: Martí, who together with Ribé already won this award in 2007 for El laberinto del fauno, points out that this year's gala was much better than the one before.
And the time has come Jota. There is some faint boo! when the Oscar goes to The area of interest, but right after that the applause and the oe, oe, oe are imposed!
"I'm a little angry, I have to be honest, but we're happy to be here and put an end to all this," confesses Caruso. "I feel kind of weird," intervenes Pruss. "I'm a little saddened", adds Segura.
"We'll celebrate it just the same," replies Maite, the older sister of the honoree. "Getting here is very difficult and he has succeeded. The prize is the audience, more than 200 million have seen the film", adds Eva, Juan Antonio's other sister.
Once the unknowns have been clarified, the party and the toast are required.
Then another guest bursts in. Enter Roberto Canessa, Uruguayan doctor and one of the 16 real, not fictional, survivors of the Andes miracle. "We are very ambitious, what's wrong with us!", he replies in the face of defeat. "Who said the Oscar is fair? The response from people has been wonderful, children and young people stop me in the street. This is much more than a film, it is a youth movement", he remarks.
This is how they pass the time, well into the night and the Dolby is emptying, waiting for the big stars of the party to arrive. The first, the filmmaker's parents and Carlos, who warns the cameras, given their interest. "I am his twin", he warns.
"I wanted to take the Oscar with me, I had the speech ready, the only thing missing was the Oscar to be able to pronounce it", remarks Berger from Bilbao when he breaks into the venue.
Only one principal remained to appear, a Bayona who had to go to three parties before joining the one he liked best. "I am very happy because I have done eight months of promotion and tomorrow is a holiday. I have nothing to do and my brain is dry, I need to restart it, not think about anything for a while", he says when he gets out of the car, surrounded by the journalists who surround him.
"It was complicated, but it was beautiful", he insists. It does not hide, however, the satisfaction of the neighborhood people, of what hangs. "Scorsese has just sent me a message, that he has seen the film and liked it very much". Being better known and recognized will be able to access better projects. "This film leaves me in a very sweet position", he considers. It is their year of snow and therefore year of goods.
The party continues at night, because Nou Barris is Hollywood.
