Featuring an extraordinary cast including Penélope Cruz and Glenn Close, La Bola Negra arrives in UK and Irish cinemas on Friday 6 November.
Directed by acclaimed Spanish filmmaking duo Javier Calvo and Javier Ambrossi, the film weaves together three lives across three distinct eras – 1932, 1937 and 2017 – revealing the intimate connections that bind them through desire, pain and inheritance.
Rich with the poetry of Federico García Lorca, La Bola Negra is both an intimate love story and an ambitious exploration of queer history. Moving between generations, it gives voice to lives and loves that have too often been erased, marginalised or forced into silence. The result is a deeply affecting meditation on memory, grief, identity and hope, bringing the past into conversation with the present.
The film boasts a remarkable ensemble cast, led by Guitarricadelafuente, Miguel Bernardeau, Carlos González, Milo Quites, Lola Dueñas, Julio Torres, Penélope Cruz and Glenn Close. Its critical reception has already been extraordinary, with major accolades including Best Director at the Cannes Film Festival, the People’s Choice Award at the Toronto International Film Festival and the Audience Award at the San Sebastián Film Festival. It has also been selected as Spain’s official entry for Best International Feature Film at the Academy Awards.
The early reviews have been equally enthusiastic. Attitude calls it “one of the best films I’ve ever seen”, while Awards Watch declares it “the best film of the year”. IndieWire describes it as “an impossible love story for the ages” and “a work of staggering genius”, while The Observer calls it “an epic must-see”. Five-star reviews from The Times, El Mundo, The London Standard and The Queer Review, alongside praise from The Guardian and The Hollywood Reporter, further underline the film’s considerable impact.
Special UK and Irish cinema events
To mark its release, a series of special screenings and events will take place across the UK, offering audiences the opportunity to explore the film’s themes through conversations with writers, artists and cultural commentators.
On Thursday 5 November, The Arzner hosts a 20:15 preview screening, followed by a remote Q&A with La Bola Negra costume designer Ana Lopez Cobos and production designer Roger Bellés, hosted by Rosalind Jana.
Friday 6 November sees the film’s opening-night screening at Picturehouse Central at 18:30, in partnership with Foyles, followed by a Q&A with Barry Pierce and Jason Okundaye.
Audiences in Bristol can catch a special screening at Watershed on Saturday 7 November at 14:20, introduced by Lorena Pino of Latinas in Bristol Film Club. The screening will be followed by a Latinas in Bristol meet-up in the venue’s Café & Bar.
Watershed will host a further event on Wednesday 11 November at 17:00, combining a screening with a Thought in Action discussion featuring UWE’s Philosophy and Politics and International Relations departments.
The programme continues in Brighton on Wednesday 18 November, with a special screening at the Duke of York’s, followed by a Q&A with William Rayfet Hunter.
Further events are expected to be announced.
With its extraordinary cast, ambitious storytelling and powerful engagement with the histories that shape queer identity, La Bola Negra promises to be a landmark cinematic experience. At once personal and sweeping in scope, it is a film about the stories we inherit, the people we remember and the love that survives even when history tries to erase it.
La Bola Negra opens in UK and Irish cinemas on Friday 6 November 2026.
