Last night's official screening at the Cannes Film Festival of La bola negra, the second film directed by Javier Calvo and Javier Ambrossi (Los Javis, as they are popularly known in Spain), received one of the longest standing ovations in the festival's history. Seventeen minutes of applause as the young, emotional directors thanked the packed auditorium for the wonderful gesture. And right now, both directors are answering questions from the media at the press conference for La bola negra, a contender in this year's official selection for the Palme d'Or.
The story of La bola negra is a tale of lives cut short, inspired both by the unfinished work of the same name by the poet Federico García Lorca and by Alberto Conejero's play La piedra oscura, and it connects the lives of three gay men at different periods in Spain's recent history (1932, 1937, and 2017). Joining Los Javis at the table in the Cannes auditorium is the cast comprising Guitarricadelafuente, who plays the character of Sebastián, Carlos González, Miguel Bernardeau, Lola Dueñas, and Penélope Cruz.
The story of how *La bola negra* came to be made into a film began, according to Javier Calvo, with a search for something light to read on a plane whilst the directors were retreating to Ibiza to get some fresh air away from Madrid to finish the script for Las Mesías. La piedra oscura was the book he chose, and after reading it with great emotion, he began to think about how to turn that story into a script. "It was basically fate", said Calvo."La piedra oscura is the seed; it forms one of the storylines, that of Sebastián and Rafael".
Javier Ambrossi, for his part, believes that La bola negra is a way of vindicating and helping a younger generation to discover the figure of Lorca. Here he is clearly referring not only to the figure of the poet, who in his work "Drama de costumbres actuales" was already addressing intolerance and the futility of radical ideas, but also to the current repression and the lack of role models for the LGTBI+ community in Spain. "They stole a role model from me", he states.
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As well as the directing duo, the other major figure drawing the attention of those present was, of course, Penélope Cruz. The Oscar winner (and holder of several Goyas) has a supporting role in the film, but that wasn't the reason she decided to take part in the project.
"I was fascinated by La Mesías. I was a huge fan of Los Javis (...) and I told my agent: 'Let's arrange a meeting to talk for more than a minute in a corridor'. We realised it was a mutual feeling, the actress commented. She also noted that the first time they discussed La bola negra, they were still somewhat hesitant about the role, as they saw it as very small - "no more than ten minutes on screen". Penélope explains here that this is not what defines her choice of projects.
"I don't base my decisions on screen time. Discovering Nené Romero and being part of something is more important than just another film.
"There are films—I always say this—we're not crazy, we know films can't change the world, but we can, in some cases, make things better, reignite important debates, touch hearts in a way that awakens something, especially in younger generations, as María said. It was one of my strongest motivations, apart from the respect I feel for them and the immense talent they possess—which I've always known they had.
"But being part of something like this—it didn't matter to me whether I was on screen for three minutes, or thirty, or the whole film. It was about being part of something I knew in my heart was important, and that was important not just in our country. I think you've achieved something truly great, and that for many young people—for many teenagers, even a 20-year-old who isn't yet a fully formed adult— What you get from paper books, which, unfortunately, people hardly touch anymore, can sometimes be more powerful when you're sitting in a cinema for two and a half hours, as is the case here; that impact can be far more powerful than what you might be studying for three years at school."