Brad Pitt captured the spotlight this Wednesday at the San Sebastián Film Festival, where he presented "In the Heart of the Beast," a survival story about a retired officer and his loyal combat dog in the wilds of Alaska.

The day also left room for the screening of "Beyond Society," a documentary produced by J.A. Bayona about the lives of the survivors of the 1972 plane crash involving a Uruguayan rugby team in the Andes.

"It was wonderful to be here," Pitt said at the press conference, whose steps have been closely followed by fans and the press since he arrived on Sunday in the northern Spanish coastal city.

"I had Monday free to explore the coast, see some beautiful art, from my all-time favorite, (Basque) Eduardo Chillida, a sculptor, and eat really delicious food," said Pitt, who had not been to San Sebastián since 2009, when he promoted Quentin Tarantino's "Inglourious Basterds."

A Love Story

On this occasion, Pitt is the star and producer of "In the Heart of the Beast," a film in which he plays a retired U.S. Special Forces officer who, together with his combat dog Odín, goes to Alaska in search of inner peace.

When the small plane in which they are traveling crashes, the adventure begins to try to survive the untamed nature of Alaska.

"It is a survival story, but at heart, ultimately, it is a love story" between the soldier and the dog, both with post-traumatic stress, Pitt explained about the film by director David Ayer, with whom he had already worked in the past.

For the two-time Oscar winner, it is a very timely film at this moment of upheaval in the world.

"Personally, I think we could spend more time focusing on what we have in common" and "what unites us (...) Maybe just start taking care of the people around us and making sure they are okay," he said.

As for the current context of cinema, Pitt said that thanks to the platforms he saw the situation improving for medium-budget films like "In the Heart of the Beast" that had found it "very complicated to recoup" their investment.

For him, working with the dog, whose real name is Uber, was a "beautiful" experience.

"We connected very quickly. We tried to make every day a play day. There were moments when he did things that were simply incredible, that were not in the script and that you see in the film, and his expressions, truly, moved me very much," he detailed.

"In the Heart of the Beast" is participating in the official section of the San Sebastián Festival but out of competition.

The Andes Tragedy

Also out of competition, "Beyond Society" premieres this Wednesday, narrating the vicissitudes of returning home of the survivors of the so-called Andes tragedy in 1972.

The documentary, which will premiere as a miniseries on Netflix in December, is produced by J.A. Bayona, director of "Society of the Snow," the 2023 fiction feature film about the crash, which had two Oscar nominations and won, among other awards, twelve Goyas.

"I pinch myself because being here today at this moment representing all the families of those who did not return and themselves, representing my brother, honoring him (...) seems incredible to me and I am truly very happy," Stella Pérez del Castillo, sister of Marcelo, one of the deceased, said at a press conference.

In this 74th edition of the San Sebastián Festival, seventeen productions are competing for the Golden Shell, among them "Mis muertos tristes," by Chilean Pablo Larraín, and "Glaxo," by Argentine Benjamín Naishtat.

In Horizontes Latinos, the section entirely dedicated to cinema from the region, two films by Mexican directors enter the competition this Wednesday: "Chicas tristes," by Fernanda Tovar, and "Moscas," by Fernando Eimbcke.

San Sebastián hands out its awards on Saturday at the festival's closing gala.