La Bola Negra, which won Javier Calvo and Javier Ambrossi (aka Los Javis) the best director award at Cannes, has been chosen as the country’s submission for best international feature at the 2027 Academy Awards by the members of the Spain Film Academy.
The other two films shortlisted to represent the country at the Oscars were Rodrigo Sorogoyen’s The Beloved and Alauda Ruiz de Azúa’s Sundays.
La Bola Negra weaves three different timelines – 1932, 1937 and 2017 – and explores queer desire and repression in Spain. It is named after an unfinished play by poet and playwright Federico García Lorca, who was executed on the orders of right-wing military authorities in Granada at the start of the Spanish Civil War, in 1936.
The ensemble cast includes Spanish singer-songwriter Guitarricadelafuente (Álvaro Lafuente Calvo) in his acting debut, Miguel Bernardeau, Carlos González, Milo Quifes, Lola Dueñas, Julio Torres, as well as Penélope Cruz and Glenn Close in supporting roles.
Directed and co-written (with Alberto Conejero) by Calvo and Ambrossi, La Bola Negra is produced by Los Javis’ company Suma Content with Almodóvar’s El Deseo, Movistar Plus and France’s Le Pacte, with backing by Atresmedia,
La Bola Negra world premiered in competition in Cannes, where Javier Calvo and Javier Ambrossi shared the best director award with Pawel Pawlikowski for Fatherland.
The film has just made its North American premiere at the Toronto International Film Festival (TIFF), where Penélope Cruz also received the TIFF special tribute award. Netflix has North American rights and will open the film in theatres on October 16 before it starts streaming on the platform on December 2.
In Spain, Elastica Films will release La Bola Negra on September 25, shortly after its Spanish premiere at the San Sebastian film festival.
Goodfellas handles international sales.
Spain has won the international feature Oscar four times and has been nominated 22 times, most recently with Oliver Laxe’s Sirât in 2025, which was also nominated for best sound.
The 99th Academy Awards will take place on March 14, 2027.
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