Where was Society of the Snow filmed?

❘ Updated: 2024-01-05T12:58:51

Netflix

For many Netflix viewers Society of the Snow has been a shock to the system – but where was it filmed? Here’s what you need to know.

Adapted from the 2008 book La Sociedad de la Nieve – written by a classmate of the victims – Society of the Snow follows the real-life events of the fatal crash of Flight 571 in 1972.

Carrying a total of 45 passengers, the plane crashed into the Andes Mountains, leaving the surviving 33 to fend for themselves in the wilderness.

With the movie now on Netflix, here’s everything you need to know about how and where Society of the Snow was filmed.

Where was Society of the Snow filmed?

Below you’ll find a full list of filming locations used in the making of Society of the Snow – including the real-life crash site.

You can catch the full trailer for the movie below:

Sierra Nevada, Spain

Filming and principal photography began in Sierra Nevada, Spain, lasting from January 10 to April 29, 2022. This location was used as the main point of filming, depicting the actual crash site of the Andes Mountains.

According to ibc, director J.A. Bayona and his team built a stage 2000m up in the mountains to film extra storm and some interior scenes.

Speaking to Screen Daily, Bayona expanded: “It was hard… It is very impressive to see the size of those mountains, but they are very difficult to shoot. They trick your eye… Sometimes you need to twitch the camera a little bit in order to give the impression of the steepness.”

Montevideo, Uruguay

Airport, rugby scenes, and other additional footage were all shot in Montevideo, Uruguay. This extended to scenes involving the crash victims’ families at the time.

Filming in Uruguay concluded in late July 2022, with production then continuing on in Madrid.

Andes Mountains, Argentina and Chile

Instead of directly filming scenes at the real-life crash site, secondary footage was captured from the Andes Mountains before being blended into Society of the Snow.

According to La Vanguardia, the team took its aerial footage back in 2021, before projecting the footage 360 inside the sets built in Spain.

Speaking to Vanity Fair, Bayona added of the filming process: “We planned to shoot the story almost like a documentary. We prepared the actors; we gave them all the information; we rehearsed the script for almost two months; we went through all the scenes. They read the book; they got in contact with the survivors or the families of the victims. And they spent 72 days in the mountains. We shot for 140 days.

“We took the time to go through all the important moments. We were ready with our cameras as if we were shooting a documentary to capture that. Each actor is doing what his character was doing and feeling and going through in that moment. We gave them the freedom to do that, following them with the cameras.”

Society of the Snow is on Netflix now. Check out our other coverage below: