‘La Bola Negra’ Teaser: Spanish Cannes Sensation Comes to Netflix and Movie Theaters — SkimNews
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- "La Bola Negra" won Best Director at Cannes for Los Javis (Javier Calvo and Javier Ambrossi), whose only prior film was the 2017 musical comedy "Holy Camp!"
- The nearly three-hour queer epic is inspired by an unfinished play of the same name by Federico García Lorca, weaving three interconnected stories set in 1932, 1937, and 2017
- Netflix released the first teaser on September 1, after acquiring U.S. rights in a post-Cannes bidding war
- The film will open in theaters October 16 and stream on Netflix December 2, with a 47-day theatrical window — the longest for any Netflix-released movie
- The ensemble cast includes Penélope Cruz, Glenn Close, Julio Torres, and Lola Dueñas, with original song "La Nieve" performed by Guitarricadelafuente
- The 1937 storyline dramatizes the relationship between Lorca's real-life lover Rafael Rodríguez Rapún and a Nationalist soldier, drawing on Alberto Conejero's play "La piedra oscura," which Conejero adapted into the screenplay with Los Javis
Why it matters: Netflix's 47-day theatrical window for "La Bola Negra" is the longest the streamer has ever given a film. With Cruz and Close in the cast and Cannes Best Director hardware already secured, the source says Netflix "seems primed to throw its weight behind" the film this awards season.
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