Filming will begin in August, and the film will arrive exclusively in theaters in 2026 before its premiere on Movistar Plus+.
La Bola Negra, an original Movistar Plus+ and Suma Content Films film in co-production with Le Pacte, written, directed, and produced by Javier Ambrossi and Javier Calvo, revealed new details at an event held during the Cannes Film Festival on Monday, May 19.
After the undeniable success of La Mesías, Javier Calvo and Javier Ambrossi return to direct a work of their authorship, which will be released in theaters in 2026.
La bola negra is based on the surviving materials of the play of the same name by Federico García Lorca and the theatrical phenomenon La piedra oscura by Alberto Conejero, winner of the National Prize for Dramatic Literature, which won five Max Awards.
Filming of La Bola Negra will begin in August and take place in various locations in Spain and Europe.
Guitarricadelafuente, Miguel Bernardeau, Carlos González, Lola Dueñas, and Penélope Cruz head the cast of the film, which takes its title from an unfinished work by Federico García Lorca.
The technical crew
The team of La Bola Negra repeats professionals at the heads of the different departments, with whom Calvo and Ambrossi worked hand in hand on La Mesías.
Gris Jordana is the director of photography, Roger Bellés is the art director, Ana López Cobos is the costume designer, Eva Leira and Yolanda Serrano are the casting directors, Rodrigo Madrigal is the head of sound, Pablo Morillas is in charge of hairdressing, Mariló Osuna of makeup, and Belén Martí Lluch is the choreographer. Alberto Gutiérrez will be in charge of the editing and Raül Refree will be in charge of the music. Mariano Piñeiro is the production manager, and Álvaro Riesgo is the director’s coordinator.
International partners
La Bola Negra‘s international partners, Le Pacte and Goodfellas, and auteur cinema stalwarts have been announced at Cannes.
Le Pacte will co-produce La Bola Negra. At this year’s Cannes Film Festival, the French production and distribution company presents Mario Martone’s Fuori in the Official Selection. Le Pacte has co-produced films by filmmakers such as Nanni Moretti, Matteo Garrone and Jim Jarmusch and has distributed films such as Sean Baker’s Anora, winner of the Palme d’Or at the Cannes Film Festival and winner of the last edition of the Oscars.
Goodfellas will handle La Bola Negra’s international sales. In the Official Selection of the Cannes Film Festival this 2025, Goodfellas is presenting five films: Nouvelle Vague by Richard Linklater, Young Mothers by Jean-Pierre and Luc Dardenne, Fuori by Mario Martone, Renoir by Chie Hayakawa and The Woman and the Child by Saeed Roustaee.
Its catalog includes works by two-time Palme d’Or winners Ken Loach and the Dardenne brothers and award-winning films such as Kore-Eda’s Hirokazu , Julia Ducournau’s Titane, Jacques Audiard’s Dheepan, and Abdellatif Kechiche’s La vie d’Adèle.
La Bola Negra will be the first film of Suma Content Films. The production company founded by Javier Ambrossi and Javier Calvo, Suma Content, opens a specific cinema division, Suma Content Films, which starts its activity with this film after successfully finishing the shooting of Mi querida señorita. The film El desencanto, Ana Rujas’s directorial debut, is still in development.
Statements by the authors and producers
Javier Ambrossi: “The creative process of La Bola Negra began with a work of documentation and historical research that we have mixed with a precious literary work with Alberto Conejero. It has a part of theatrical adaptation, another of imagination, and another of introspection to project our identity on all the plots. It is very exciting to present here in Cannes, with these colleagues, part of the casting of this film of which there are still many new talents and surprises to be revealed”.
Javier Calvo: “Writing La Bola Negra has been an exciting and complex experience. We didn’t feel like we were imagining a story but remembering it, almost as if we were unearthing it. Bringing to light characters, a story, dialogues, and a wound that we didn’t know existed, but that somehow were beating inside. It is a text that touches us deeply and makes us understand why we do this”.
Guillermo Farré, Director of Original Cinema and Spanish Cinema at Movistar Plus+: “At Movistar Plus+ we are happy and excited to accompany Javier Ambrossi and Javier Calvo in their new film, La Bola Negra. After having lived together a creative adventure as La Mesías, we embark on this new project that means a step further in an artistic career driven by the passion for great stories told in a brave and unique way with which we identify so much. We do so hand in hand with international partners such as Le Pacte and Goodfellas, who are behind many of the great works of recent European cinema and who always bet on a cinema that risks and excites. The Cannes Film Festival is the perfect place to announce the main casting of this Movistar Plus+ Original film and the collaboration with our international partners”.
Jean Labadie, President of Le Pacte: “We are incredibly proud to co-produce La Bola Negra, directed by Javier Calvo and Javier Ambrossi and produced by Movistar Plus+ and Suma Content Films. La Mesías completely won us over and were thrilled to receive the film’s script. We were immediately committed, fascinated by its wit, intelligence, and emotion”.
From Goodfellas they have stated, “We were absolutely blown away by La Bola Negra. It is bold, cinematic, emotional and visually stunning, the kind of film that grabs you from the very first scene. After the success of La Mesías, this film confirms Ambrossi and Calvo’s place among the most essential voices in European cinema today, and we are delighted to be part of this adventure with Movistar Plus+, Suma Content Films, and Le Pacte.”
Synopsis
La Bola Negra narrates the interconnected lives of three men in three different periods. Three existences intimately linked by sexuality and desire, pain and inheritance, and one of Federico García Lorca’s last unfinished works.
