Urban Planning, Ecological Transition, Urban Services and Housing

The Full Council has unanimously decided to recognise the Barcelona film director and producer Juan Antonio Bayona with the city’s Gold Medal for Cultural Merit. Bayona is one of the leading Spanish producers from the 21st century, with an important international profile, his works keeping alive people’s love for the big screen.

Juan Antonio Bayona has an extensive career in the national and international audiovisual sector, recognised by the most important film institutions with various awards and nominations. His latest full-length film, Society of the Snow, was nominated for an Oscar in the most recent edition of the awards, for best international film and best make-up and hairstyling.

The medal seeks to recognise the author’s efforts to consolidate his own voice, whether delving into the universe of fantasy or portraying stories of characters who see their everyday routines turned upside down and face extreme situations.

Bayona was among the first students to graduate from the Film and Audiovisual School of Catalonia (ESCAC). Once he finished his studies, he started out in the world of audiovisuals directing advertising campaigns and videoclips by different artists, such as Raphael, Fangoria, OBK, Hevia, Camela, Alejandro Sanz, Bunbury and the British group Keane.

In 1999 he made the leap to cinema with the short film Les meves vacances, which he followed three years later as the producer of the short film L’home esponja. His big opportunity came with the film L’orfenat (2007), jointly produced with Guillermo del Toro and applauded in Cannes, nominated for thirteen Goya awards and winner in seven categories, including the best new director.

The excellent acclaim for this film enabled him to make the leap to Hollywood, with projects such as the film adaptation of the novel Hater, by the English writer David Moody, also produced by Guillermo del Toro and starring Ben Gazzara, and the superproductions Jurassic World 2, which he was personally chosen for by Steven Spielberg, and the series The Rings of Power.

His full-length films include A Monster Calls, starring Felicity Jones and Liam Neeson, The Impossible, with a cast headed by Naomi Watts and Ewan McGregor, and Society of the Snow, already mentioned and based on the book of the same name by Pablo Vierci.