Netflix Survival Thriller ‘Society of the Snow,’ About Andes Plane Crash Survivors, Set as Venice Film Festival Closer

Spanish director J.A. Bayonas Society of the Snow, a reconstruction of a 1972 plane crash in the Andes that forced survivors to take extreme measures, includingcannibalism, has been set as the Venice Film Festivals closing film.

The deeply immersive Spanish-language saga is a Netflix original film shot in Andalusias Sierra Nevada, mainland Spains highest mountain range, using a 300-person crew. Society of the Snow will world premiere on the Lido out of competition on Sept. 9. Its official screening will be held in the Palazzo del Cinema after the awards ceremony.

In 1972,Uruguayan Air Force Flight 571, which had been chartered to bring Montevideos Old Christians Rugby Club team to Chile, crashed at an altitude of 11,712 feet in the Andes.Of its 45 passengers which consisted mostly of the rugby team, friends and family only 29 survived.Without food, the survivors,who belonged to Uruguays elite, were forced to eat the flesh of the deceased to stay alive. 19 survived an avalanche. 72 days after the crash, 16 finally made it out alive.

The high-profile streaming title comes less than 24 hours after Venice revealed it was forced to pull Luca Guadagninos Zendaya-starrer Challengers, which had been set as its opening film, due to promotional complications prompted by the SAG-AFTRA strike. Italian World War II epic Comandante is replacing Challengers as Venices opening night movie.

The Society of the Snow cast features up-and-coming Uruguayan and Argentine actorsEnzo Vogrincic (A Twelve-Year Night), Matas Recalt (Apache, la vida de Carlos Tvez), Agustn Pardella (Pinamar) and Felipe Gonzlez (El Cazador).

Directed by Bayona, Society of the Snow is produced by Beln Atienza, Sandra Hermida and J.A. Bayona. Starring Enzo Vogrincic, Matas Recalt, Agustn Pardella, Esteban Kukuriczka and Tomas Wolf. The screenplay is by Bayona, Bernat Vilaplana, Jaime Marques, and Nicols Casariego from the novel by Pablo Vierci. The director of photography is Pedro Luque (Dont Breathe).

J.A. Bayona made his directorial debut with The Orphanage (2007) which launched at Cannes and won numerous awards including seven Goyas, which are Spains highest film honours. In 2012 he made his first English-language foray with The Impossible, a harrowing disaster movie that grossed $198 million worldwide.

The 80th edition of the Venice Film Festival will run Aug. 30-Sept. 9. The lineup will be announced on July 25.