News
La bola negra receives one of Cannes' great ovations and reinforces Spanish cinema's strong year
La bola negra has arrived in Cannes amid the noise of major premieres. The new film by Javier Calvo and Javier Ambrossi, Los Javis, was presented in the festival's official competition and received an ovation of more than 15 minutes, one of the most talked-about of this edition. For Spanish cinema, this is no ordinary appearance: the film is part of a historic presence of three national titles competing for the Palme d'Or.
The story starts from an unfinished work by Federico García Lorca, La bola negra, and the play La piedra oscura, by Alberto Conejero. From there, Los Javis construct a narrative across three periods — 1932, 1937 and 2017 — that explores desire, repression and queer memory in Spain. They are not seeking to make a classic Lorca biopic, but a film about what was left out of the official portrait of the poet for decades: his loves, his fears and his sexuality.
The cast has been one of the main focuses of the premiere. Guitarricadelafuente makes his acting debut alongside Milo Quifes and Carlos González, while Penélope Cruz, Miguel Bernardeau, Lola Dueñas and Glenn Close complete a cast that gave the red carpet one of the festival's most photographed moments.
The film also arrives with political intent. At Cannes, Los Javis defended the need to look at Lorca as a specific person, not as a cultural figure neutralised by myth. In their words, the author's sexuality and the violence he suffered cannot be separated from his work or from Spanish historical memory.
The premiere confirms the directors' step up in scale after years of success in television, theatre and film. After La llamada, Paquita Salas, Veneno and La Mesías, Los Javis arrive at Cannes with a much more ambitious work, designed to engage with European auteur cinema without losing the blend of emotion, excess and popular culture that has made them recognisable.
The response was especially intense at the end of the screening. Penélope Cruz appeared moved, the team celebrated the reception and Guitarricadelafuente ended up starring in one of the night's moments when he sat at the piano during the after-party. It is the kind of scene Cannes knows how to turn quickly into a story: a film, an ovation, tears and the feeling that something important has just happened.
La bola negra is scheduled for release in Spanish cinemas on 2 October 2026, distributed by Elastica. Until then, its appearance at Cannes will serve as an international calling card for a film that wants to challenge the official memory of Lorca and, at the same time, open a broader conversation about who has been able to love, tell stories and survive in Spanish cultural history.