Movistar Plus celebrated a landmark moment at the 2026 Cannes Film Festival as La bola negra, written and directed by Javier Calvo and Javier Ambrossi, won the prestigious Best Director award. The prize was shared ex aequo with Paweł Pawlikowski for Fatherland.
The victory marks only the second time a Spanish film has received the Cannes Best Director honor, following Pedro Almodóvar’s win for All About My Mother in 1999.
The film received an enthusiastic reception on the Croisette, including a 20-minute standing ovation after its premiere and strong praise from international critics.
For Movistar Plus, the award capped a historic edition of Cannes, with three Spanish productions selected for the Official Competition: La bola negra, Rodrigo Sorogoyen’s The Beloved (El ser querido), and Pedro Almodóvar’s Bitter Christmas (Amarga Navidad).
Produced by Movistar Plus and Suma Content Films in co-production with El Deseo and Le Pacte, La bola negra tells the story of three interconnected men across different eras — 1932, 1937 and 2017 — exploring themes of desire, pain and legacy.
The film will be released theatrically in Spain on October 2, 2026, through Elástica Films before debuting exclusively on Movistar Plus.
La bola negra Wins Best Director at Cannes
