La Bola Negra emerges as early Oscars front-runner after festival awards

La Bola Negra, also known as Black Ball, is being talked about as an early Oscars front-runner after a run of prestigious film festival awards. The Spanish film, partly set during the Spanish Civil War, broke Spanish box office records when it was released earlier this month. It has also been a hit at the BFI London Film Festival, which is currently underway.

The film tells the story of three gay men living at different times. They are connected by fragments of a real play, also called La Bola Negra, left unfinished by the 20th century Spanish writer Federico Lorca. Part of the story takes place during the Spanish Civil War in the 1930s. A young nationalist, Sebastian, played by musician Guitarricadelafuente, is sent to guard Rafael Rodriguez Rapun, a real-life figure thought to have been Lorca's lover. Lorca was murdered at the age of 38 during the Civil War, and his homosexuality is thought to have been part of the reason he was targeted.

The film's two directors, known in Spain as Los Javis because both are named Javier, shared the best director prize at the Cannes Film Festival earlier this year. It also won the People's Choice Award at the Toronto Film Festival, often seen as an Oscars predictor. At its London premiere, actor Penelope Cruz, who is also in the film, said: 'They've done something that is really touching people's hearts and I think it's a necessary film. It's not just amazing entertainment. It's something of a depth that is, I think, very necessary.'

La Bola Negra has been a box office phenomenon in Spain. During one weekend alone, it accounted for half of all cinema ticket sales there. Its leading male characters are all gay. Three of the young actors portraying them are from the LGBTQ community, and so are the directors. The film's release has been presented as a sign that LGBTQ plus stories are not niche and that 'our stories matters'. Actor Miguel Bernardeau said the film was engaging young audiences with recent, traumatic Spanish history. In Spain, cinemas were full of young people who wanted to watch a story they had not connected to in many years, he said, and the rediscovery of the Civil War and Lorca's work was beautiful.

Although the film is stamped with Spanish history, language, art and culture, its message of living authentically is described as universal. With a large number of international academy voters, it is seen not just as a contender for an international Oscar nomination but as a possible Best Picture contender.