J.A. Bayona, on his way to the Oscars

A child who stayed up late to watch the Oscars gala will sit this year with the rest of the nominees. Barcelona director J.A. Bayona has made it onto the list of nominees for Best International Film with Society of the Snow. The film, which recreates the Andes plane crash in the 1970s, will compete with Matteo Garrone’s I Captain , Wim Wenders’ Perfect Days, Jonathan Glazer’s The Zone of Interest and İlker Çatak’s T eachers’ Lounge. And it won’t be up against Justine Triet’s multi-award-winning Anatomy of a Fall by Justine Triet, who has thwarted its Golden Globes and Critics Choice Awards aspirations.

With this nomination, Bayona has achieved a recognition that only Spanish directors such as Alejandro Amenábar, Pedro Almodóvar, Fernando Trueba and José Luis Garci have achieved so far. The golden statuette has long been reluctant to bear the national stamp, despite an increasingly fruitful cinematography. Mar adentro (2005) was the last film to win it, after Todo sobre mi madre ( 2000), Belle Époque (1994) and Volver a empezar (1983). The last nomination in this category went to Almodóvar’s Dolor y Gloria.

In addition to aspiring to be the Best International Film at the 96th edition of the Oscars, Society of the Snow will compete in the category of Best Makeup and Hairstyling, with the nomination of Ana López-Puigcerver, David Martí and Montse Ribé. Here he will face Golda, Maestro, Oppenheimer and Poor Creatures.

Bayona will not be alone on March 10 at the Dolby Theater in Los Angeles. Robot dreams by Bilbao-born Pablo Berger has also made it to this year’s Oscars gala. His first foray into animation, a Catalan production by Arcadia Motion Pictures and already a winner at the European Film Awards, will be up against The Boy and the Heron, the latest film by Hayao Miyazaki and Toshio Suzuki, Elemental, Nimona and Spider-man: Across the Multiverse.