Spain’s film academy has chosen “La bola negra” to carry the country’s hopes of securing a new Oscar for best international feature, a feat achieved only four times in the history of the US awards, most recently thanks to Alejandro Amenábar’s “Mar adentro” (“The Sea Inside”) in 2005.
This ensemble drama about queer desire and repression, set against the backdrop of the Spanish Civil War and closely linked to the figure of Federico García Lorca, has already won the award for Best Director at the Cannes Film Festival after also competing for other prizes such as the Palme d’Or itself.
The final Oscar nominations will be revealed on 15 December. That is when it will become clear whether the creative duo made up of Javier Calvo and Javier Ambrossi, Los Javis, will conclude at Hollywood’s Dolby Theatre the promotional tour they have been immersed in for several months. This year’s film awards ceremony will be held on 14 March 2027.
Film analysts are confident about its chances of picking up several extra nods from the Hollywood Academy in different categories such as best supporting actress, a nomination that could go to cabaret performer Nené Romero played by Penélope Cruz. The reactions coming in this week from the Toronto International Film Festival, an annual bellwether for US critics, appear positive among both specialists and general audiences.
This is Los Javis’ second feature after their debut “La llamada”, which was followed by several television projects such as “Paquita Salas”, “Veneno” and “La Mesías”. The cast of “La bola negra” is completed by singer-songwriter Álvaro Lafuente, Guitarricadelafuente, as well as Miguel Bernardeau, Carlos González, Milo Quifes, Lola Dueñas and a brief appearance by Glenn Close as a historian who travels to present-day Madrid.
The war film beat “Los Domingos” by Alauda Ruíz de Azúa, one of the most highly awarded films in Spain last season but unable to enter the 2025 preselection, and “El ser querido” by Rodrigo Sorogoyen, which tells the story of the relationship between an absent director (Javier Bardem) and his daughter, played by Victoria Luengo.
Pending the announcement of the final nominations, one of Los Javis’ main rivals could be the Romanian film “Fjord“, winner of the Cannes Palme d’Or for its portrait of an ultra-religious marriage (played by Renate Reinsve, who has experience in Hollywood, and Sebastian Stan) that explores the contradictions of progressive Norwegian society.