Entertainment · Film · 4 hrs ago
Spain Selects ‘La Bola Negra’ as Its Oscar Entry
Spain has selected La Bola Negra as its entry for the best international feature film Oscar.
Directed by Javier Ambrossi and Javier Calvo, the film follows gay men in Spain in 1932, 1937 and 2017.
Its three stories show how gay lives were shaped by rejection, war and changing social conditions.
One story follows Carlos, who is rejected by a local club because the men suspect he is gay.
Another follows soldiers Sebastián and Rafael, who grow close during the Spanish Civil War.
The modern story centers on Alberto, an openly gay historian whose family history brings generational hurt into focus.
The film draws on the unfinished work of playwright Federico García Lorca, who was executed by Nationalist forces in 1936.
It opens in New York and Los Angeles on October 16 and is due on Netflix on December 2.
Spain has selected “La Bola Negra” as its entry for the best international feature film Oscar.
Directed by Javier Ambrossi and Javier Calvo, the film tells intertwined stories of gay men in Spain across three periods.
Its story moves between 1932, 1937 and 2017.
The film features Penélope Cruz and Glenn Close.
It won the directing prize at Cannes, which it shared with Pawel Pawlikowski’s “Fatherland.”
- Who
- Spain selected the film as its Oscar entry. It was directed by Javier Ambrossi and Javier Calvo.
- What
- La Bola Negra” was chosen as Spain’s entry for the best international feature film Oscar.
- When
- October 16, 2026.
- Where
- Spain.
- Why
- Not stated
This story does not have two clearly opposing sides.
The directors began developing the script after another project fell through.
La Bola Negra” broke out at Cannes.
The directors broke up after 13 years together.
Spain selected “La Bola Negra” as its entry for the best international feature film Oscar.
- Oscar entry
- Spain
- Directors
- Javier Ambrossi and Javier Calvo
- Story periods
- 1932, 1937 and 2017
- Cannes award
- Directing prize, shared with Pawel Pawlikowski’s “Fatherland
- Cast
- Penélope Cruz and Glenn Close
4 sources
‘La Bola Negra’ Directing Duo Los Javis Reveal How Spanish Sensation Became “The Journey Of Our Lives”
Movie Review: In Spain’s ‘La Bola Negra,’ a gay drama with historical sweep
‘La Bola Negra’: Before Netflix’s Gay Epic Became an Oscar Frontrunner, It Had to Survive the Breakup of Its Directors
What people are saying
But these singers and their gay friends, all the people in that circle, they were all incarcerated, persecuted, killed or disappeared. They’re forgotten, kind of. So we wanted to bring them back.
We learned that there’s only four pages that exist.
She’s got that material of the stars
I saw her in a clip of Jamón Jamón