Fresh from their rapturous debut last night in the Grand Théâtre Lumière, La Bola Negra filmmakers Javier Calvo and Javier Ambrossi were joined by their cast, including Penélope Cruz, this morning for their official Cannes press conference.
The film, which landed a length 20-minute ovation last night, follows three men in three different periods — 1932, 1937, and 2017 — connected by the last works of Spanish poet Federico García Lorca. Per the synopsis, Cruz has a very small role in the film, and during the presser, she was asked why she decided to join the project.
“I love the Javis,” Cruz explained. “I’ve loved them since their first films. We met during an event and decided to talk. We said we’d really like to work together, and they said they have something they were thinking about for me. But it was a tiny part lasting only 10 minutes. I told them to send it anyway.”
Cruz added: “When I read the script, I discovered this amazing story. I wanted to be part of something more than just one more film. We aren’t crazy, we know films can’t change the world, but they can improve things a little. It didn’t matter whether I was in the film for three minutes or the whole film. I thought this was important not just for our country but for the whole world.”
The film’s official synopsis reads: “La bola negra tells the interconnected stories of three men in three different eras. Three lives intimately linked by sexuality and desire, pain and inheritance, and one of the last unfinished works by Spanish poet Federico García Lorca.”
Discussing the origins of the project, Ambrossi said he and Calvo set out to “bring together poetry and theatre” through the project, which he described as the “great challenge of this film.”
Calvo described last night’s screening and lengthy ovation as a “magical moment.”
“The social networks have been hard at work, and I’ve viewed everything as a dream,” he said. “Yesterday, when the film screened, it seemed to really be speaking with people, and we thought, fantastic, everyone is understanding the film.”
Cruz added: “Yesterday evening was one of the strongest, most powerful moments I have ever experienced at the festival. The strongest. I was deeply moved.”
Starring alongside Cruz are Spanish musician Guitarricadelafuente, Miguel Bernardeau, Carlos Gonzalez, Milos Quifes, and Glenn Close. Calvo and Ambrossi also collaborated on the screenplay with Alberto Conejero.
La Bola Negra is the third Spanish film to debut in Competition this year in Cannes.
The project is a Movistar Plus+ and Suma Content Films production in co-production with Pedro Almodóvar’s El Deseo and Le Pacte. Suma Content Films is Ambrossi and Calvo’s production company. The film was shot for 12 weeks in different locations across Spain, including Castile, León, Cantabria, Andalusia, and Madrid.
The film was shot on 35mm by director of photography Gris Jordana. Other below-the-line credits on the project include Roger Bellés as art director, Ana López Cobos as costume designer, Eva Leira and Yolanda Serrano as casting directors, Rodrigo Madrigal as sound engineer, Pablo Morillas as hairstylist, Mariló Osuna for make-up, and Belén Martí Lluch as movement director. Alberto Gutiérrez edited the film.
Elastica will distribute the film in Spain, and Goodfellas is handling international sales. La Bola Negra is the first feature from Calvo and Ambrossi since 2017’s Holy Camp! The duo’s last project was the Movistar Plus+ series La Mesías (2023), which premiered at the San Sebastian Film Festival and was screened at the Sundance Film Festival.