‘La Bola Negra’ Teaser: Spanish Cannes Sensation Comes to Netflix and Movie Theaters

During a relatively sleepy Cannes Film Festival this spring, the buzziest film didn’t come from established auteurs like Pedro Almodóvar or Asghar Farhadi. Instead, one of the most talked-about film in the main competition was “La Bola Negra,” a nearly three-hour queer epic from Spanish filmmaking duo Javier Calvo and Javier Ambrossi (known as Los Javis).

The film netted its directors, whose only prior film was the 2017 musical comedy “Holy Camp!”, the Best Director prize at the festival, and incited a bidding war for U.S. rights. Netflix ultimately acquired the film and seems primed to throw its weight behind “La Bola Negra” this awards season. The streamer has released the first teaser for the film on September 1, ahead of its extended theatrical release this fall.

“La Bola Negra” is inspired by an unfinished play of the same name by Federico García Lorca, a gay Spanish poet who rose to fame in the 1920s as a member of the Spanish literary movement Generation of ’27. Lorca was murdered in 1936 during the Spanish Civil War by followers of Francisco Franco, and his body remains undiscovered to this day.

The film weaves together three interconnected stories of the lives of gay men across a century of Spanish history. One storyline set in 1932 is based on Lorca’s original play, about a young man named Carlos (Milo Quife) who applies for membership to his father’s casino but faces accusations of homosexuality. A 1937 storyline takes some material from the play “La piedra oscura” by Alberto Conejero, who cowrote the screenplay with Los Javis, following a musician turned Nationalist soldier Sebastián (Guitarricadelafuente) who develops a relationship with prisoner-of-war Rafael Rodríguez Rapún (Miguel Bernardeau), the real-life Lorca’s lover. The final storyline in 2017 follows Alberto (Carlos González), a history grad student researching queer music of the 1920s whose long-lost maternal grandfather unexpectedly dies.

The cast of “La Bola Negra” also includes Lola Dueñas, Penélope Cruz, Glenn Close, Julio Torres, and Yenesi. The film features a score written by Raül Refree, along with original song “La Nieve,” performed and written by Guitarricadelafuente.

Netflix will release “La Bola Negra” in theaters October 16, followed by a streaming release on December 2. The 47-day theatrical window for the film notably marks the longest theatrical window for any movie released by the streamer. Watch the full teaser for “La Bola Negra” below.