Today, La Bola Negra is the Spanish film that its creators say makes audiences want to live.
The film blends a 1937 Nationalist army story, a 1932 play by Federico Garcia Lorca, and a 2017 historian thread into a sweeping tale of love, fear, guilt, shame, and queer history. It premiered at the Cannes Film Festival in May and drew a 20-minute standing ovation. The film will represent Spain in the best international feature film category at the Academy Awards should it be nominated.