Uruguayan actor wins big at Ibero-American film awards

In the eleventh edition of these awards, which recognizes the best of race Ibero-American, the Uruguayan actor also won the audience award. The audience also gave that recognition to the film.

“It’s beautiful. I always talk about this, which is the reception of the film, which is ultimately the important thing about making films, about making cinema. And especially, with this movie, it was amazing how people received it. Therefore, since it is the people who decide this award, it is very nice, a gift that, in some way, closes this three-year cycle in my life,” said Enzo Vogrincic, in an interview he gave to DIARIO LAS AMÉRICAS at the hotel.

Based on real events, the film by the Spanish director Juan Antonio Bayona made history on the night of April 20 in the Riviera Maya by winning six of the seven awards it aimed for, including the best direction and best Ibero-American fiction film.

Under Bayona’s orders, Vogrincic plays Numa Turcatti, a law student who was one of the passengers on Flight 571 of the Uruguayan Air Force, which crashed in 1972 in a glacier in the Andes mountain range.

Of the 45 on board the plane, five were crew members and 19 were players from the Old Christian Club of Montevideo rugby team, who were traveling to Santiago, Chile to compete in a match. Of the 29 survivors of the plane crash, only 16 managed to survive 72 days until they were rescued, after two of them climbed more than 15 thousand feet and walked about 38 miles for 10 days to help called

“It is the union, what Jota was saying now [J.A. Bayona], that this sense of understanding that we are solitary beings is very clear. What we have is to be here. And we have the other and being aware of the other, and realizing that the other is the basis of everything,” the 31-year-old actor said of the message the film was inspired by the book of the same name by Pablo. Vierci.

The Snow Society, nominated for the best international film at the 2024 edition of the Oscars, tells the heartbreaking story with moving images that inspire reflection on the resilience, courage, hope and compassion of mankind in the face of adversity . In the middle of the snow and without food, they started feeding on the bodies of the victims to survive.

The film, which has been well received by the public and critics, was also nominated for the Oscar for the best make-up and hairstyle.

The filming

For his character to convey reality, Vogrincic had to lose about 23 kilos (50 pounds) during filming, which took place in the mountains for four months in which the actors, most of New Uruguayans and Argentines, cold and hungry, with the support of his nutritionist, with the intention that the fictional scenes would be closer to what the main characters experienced in real life.

On what was the most difficult challenge of portraying his character, the actor said:

“The process was so long. We spent four months in the mountains filming, from the day of the accident until the rescue. And in that time it was weight loss, for example; In that time the scenes are the most complicated, because throughout the film people wear down. And I think the most difficult thing was to maintain the filming, every day, from Monday to Saturday for 12 hours and sometimes even more. And so, until the end, each time with a little less strength, each time with a greater desire to return home. The challenge was to stick to it,” he said.

“Everything worked together, even with fever and burning. The fact that it was through a pandemic also helped. And we had that sense of preservation, which helped tell the story of protection. So, in the end, everything cooperates with this honest story, especially everything that suffered to tell,” he said.

The filming of this movie was undoubtedly transformative for Enzo Vogrincic, as well as the physical change that the plot imposed on him.

“I think there was a before and after in every aspect of my life, because being away from home for so long on tour and even more so with this story changes a lot. When you travel, you are very open, very awake, you experience everything differently, much more present in the moment. And that changes you, it makes you grow,” he explained.

Likewise, he mentioned the Uruguayan cinema which he considered limited, but expanding.

“It’s a cinema with a strong personality. It is a very authorized cinema. It is also a limited cinema. And when there are certain parameters, in some way, it is outside of what would be in the industry. So, that should allow, I believe, to develop a more independent, more local cinema, which does not leave all of Uruguay. So, it’s for Uruguay and with all that that means. But, little by little, he is now starting to develop more. There are more and more people who want to make films, who want to make a film. And that movement is extremely important for the development of that cinematographic language in Uruguay,” he assessed.

Regarding whether he has plans to direct, he said that he has not abandoned the idea, but that he is leaning towards theater direction.

“I love everything about creating. The truth is that it’s something I’ve been thinking about a lot. “I’ve done tests directing theatre, so I’m not managing it at all.

Vogrincic does not yet know what his next project will be because he is selective when it comes to choosing.

“I’m in a special time. Now I’m reading scripts, proposals, here I am. I’m also discovering something important: I’ve discovered that if I feel when I read something, I don’t feel like I have something to add or not I have something to add somewhere, it is very difficult for me to take that time. in my life to dedicate myself to something that I don’t feel like it is mine. So it is sometimes difficult for me to find those projects that I recognize. I have been lucky because it happened to me with the two films I did and it changed me on a deep level. That’s what I would prefer if you can. And even though I’m not filming, I’m taking the opportunity to improve other things I do. Get some rest too,” he said.

“Right now I’m not sure. [el próximo personaje]. I always ask myself that question and I never know who the next one will be. I would like there to be nuances, I would like other opportunities, places, because acting gives you the opportunity to explore yourself in new places and to have the opportunity to be in a safe environment to explore myself in more areas dark or different than my normal ones. That worries me, it motivates me.”