The Black Ball

The Black Ball (La bola negra) is a Spanish drama written, directed and produced by Javier Calvo and Javier Ambrossi. It draws on Federico García Lorca's unfinished play of the same name and on Alberto Conejero's stage play La piedra oscura. The film weaves together three stories set in 1932, 1937 and 2017: a young man rejected by an exclusive men's club in Granada, two soldiers on opposite sides of the Spanish Civil War, and a present-day historian tracing his family's link to that past. Penélope Cruz and Glenn Close co-star.

It premiered in competition at Cannes in 2026, where the directors shared the Best Director prize, and opened in Spanish cinemas on 25 September 2026. It runs 160 minutes.