Los Javis' 'The Black Ball' Premieres at Cannes to 16-Minute Ovation
Updated
Updated · Variety · May 21
Los Javis' 'The Black Ball' Premieres at Cannes to 16-Minute Ovation
6 articles · Updated · Variety · May 21
A 16-minute standing ovation greeted “The Black Ball” at its Cannes competition premiere, marking Los Javis’ first film in the festival’s main race.
The queer epic spans 85 years of Spanish history through three gay men in 1932, 1937 and 2017, drawing on four surviving pages of Federico García Lorca’s unfinished novel.
Javier Ambrossi and Javier Calvo used the premiere to link the film to present-day LGBT rights, saying Lorca was killed by fascism for being gay and that “we are here to stay.”
The film also launches Suma Content Films, Los Javis’ new cinema label, with backing from Movistar Plus+, El Deseo and Le Pacte; it opens in Spain on Oct. 2.
Why did a 20-minute Cannes ovation meet with such divisive and harsh critical reviews for the Spanish epic 'La Bola Negra'?
Beyond the festival hype, can this ambitious Spanish 'queer epic' find success with mainstream audiences worldwide?
How does a story about a murdered poet from 1936 serve as a stark warning for today's LGBTQ+ rights battles?