Thursday, May 21Thursday, May 21**Filmmaker and Film Focus at Cannes 2026: *La Bola Negra* (*The Black Ball*)**
The 2026 Cannes Film Festival prominently features *La Bola Negra* (*The Black Ball*), a Spanish-language drama directed by Javier Ambrossi and Javier Calvo (collectively known as "Los Javis"), which has garnered significant attention for its exploration of gay sexuality and repression in Spain across generations. The film, described as an "ambitious" and "emphatic" narrative triptych, draws inspiration from the unfinished work of poet Federico García Lorca, centering on the silenced histories of gay men in Spain. It stars Penélope Cruz and Glenn Close, with Cruz leading the cast as part of a story that spans the Spanish Civil War and examines themes of desire, inherited trauma, and societal oppression. The film’s reception at Cannes has been enthusiastic, with critics praising its bold storytelling and emotional impact, positioning it as a standout in the festival’s lineup .
*The Black Ball* is structured as three interconnected stories set in different eras: 1932, 1939, and the present day. The 1932 segment follows Carlos, a young man from Granada who is "blackballed" from an elite club due to rumors of his homosexuality, a scene depicted through a ritualistic ceremony involving white and black balls. The 1939 segment, set during the Spanish Civil War, portrays Sebastián, a nationalist soldier who falls in love with a wounded Republican prisoner, Rafael, a former actor and footballer. The film’s narrative weaves these stories together to critique the erasure of gay history in Spain, blending poetic realism with a meditation on the "mystery" of sexuality, as Lorca’s writings suggest. While praised for its acting and cinematography, some critics note that the film’s explicit explanation of its thematic connections slightly diminishes its initial mystique .
Lukas Dhont, known for his previous Cannes success with *Close* (2022), also returns to the festival with *Coward*, a First World War-era film that questions the nature of courage—whether it lies in battlefield heroism or the act of living openly as oneself. While not directly tied to *La Bola Negra*, Dhont’s presence underscores the festival’s broader focus on LGBTQ+ narratives and historical repression . Meanwhile, Ron Howard’s documentary *Avedon*, about photographer Richard Avedon, is also screening at Cannes, though it does not intersect with the themes of *La Bola Negra* .
Cannes Film Festival: Who will win the Palme dOr? What are festivalgoers predicting? How many films have they watched? We took to the Croisette in Cannes to ask people who they think will win this years Palme dOr 👀📽️
france24 · about 3 hours ago
Penélope Cruz and Glenn Close star in Spanish civil war gay drama at Cannes Penélope Cruz leads La Bola Negra, the new film from the creators of La Mesías, set partly during the Spanish Civil War and following three gay men across generations as they navigate desire, repression and inherited trauma. Glenn Close also stars in the ambitious Spanish-language drama. Meanwhile Lukas Dhont returns to Cannes after Close with Coward, a First World War story questioning what courage really means – fighting in battle, or daring to live openly as yourself.
france24 · about 3 hours ago
The Black Ball review – the complicated secrets of gay sexuality in Spain are brilliantly told Cannes film festival: Threading together three stories from distinct eras of Spanish life, this narrative triptych is superlatively acted and beautifully shotThe Black Ball is a narrative triptych about the lives of three different Spanish men at various times: a meditation derived from Lorca about the secret history of gay mens sexuality, which has been erased, excluded or denied – sexuality transfigured into a mysterious, restorative poetry of the soul. In Lorcas words, only mystery keeps us alive and in fact the small regret I have about this superlatively acted and beautifully shot film is that once the connection between the three narrative strands is explained, some of the mystery and poetry is lost.In 1932, Carlos (Milo Quifes) is a young man of a good family in Granada, who applies for membership of the elite Casino club but is turned down on the grounds of his rumoured homosexuality, blackballed in an oppressively elaborate ceremony presided over by politicians and clergymen, in which the white and black balls are solemnly rolled down a special chute. In 1939, Sebastián (played by the actor and musician Álvaro Lafuente Calvo) finds himself chaotically enlisted into the pro-Franco nationalist army during the civil war and falls in love with the wounded Republican prisoner-of-war that he is supposed to be guarding. This is Rafael (Miguel Bernardeau), an actor and footballer with Atlético Madrid, an impossibly handsome, captivatingly vulnerable man whose bandages ooze blood like the tears of a miraculous statue. Continue reading...
theguardian · about 3 hours ago
El miedo a la muerte según la debutante María Martínez Bayona en The End of It: Borrar los signos de la vejez es como borrar la vida La sección Première del Festival de Cannes se deja sorprender por el anómalo y muy peculiar cuento de ciencia-ficción rodado en Tenerife con reparto internacional y firmado por una directora española afincada en Londres Leer
elmundo · about 4 hours ago
La bola negra: Cannes abraza entusiasmado el cine enfático y para la conmoción de Los Javis o, como dicen aquí, los Llavis (*****) Javier Ambrossi y Javier Calvo encuentran su voz en una película desmesurada que reivindica y grita la homosexualidad silenciada de Lorca de la mano de la última obra inacabada del poeta Leer
elmundo · about 5 hours ago
Rami Malek compares new Cannes role to Freddie Mercury performance Oscar-winning actor Rami Malek has returned to the Cannes spotlight with The Man I Love, the latest film from indie director Ira Sachs, premiering on the Croisette alongside co-stars Rebecca Hall, Ebon Moss-Bachrach and Tom Sturridge. The film sees Malek play a downtown New York performance artist during the late 1980s AIDS crisis – a role the actor compared to portraying Freddie Mercury in Bohemian Rhapsody.
france24 · about 6 hours ago
Six films to watch this week The Mandalorian and Grogu is a Star Wars spin-off best-suited to 10-year-olds; Eagles of the Republic depicts life under an Egyptian dictatorship; The Balloonists follows a 1990s attempt to circumnavigate the globe; the ever more inaccessible English countryside is documented in Our Land; Ian McKellen and Michaela Coel shine in art-forgery comedy The Christophers; 1950s-set Hungarian drama Orphan. Reviews by Danny Leigh & Jonathan Romney
financial times · about 6 hours ago
Cannes, Canal+, Bolloré, blacklists: Is Frances cultural diversity under threat? Is Frances cultural diversity under threat? As the UN celebrates cultural diversity, and as the Cannes Film Festival weathers a fight over a possible blacklist at film producer Canal+, we take a look at what happened in Cannes. We dive into the concerns over the conservative billionaire Vincent Bollorés influence in the French cultural landscape and explore whether Frances diverse offering of culture is under threat.
france24 · about 8 hours ago
Director Ron Howard on Cannes, Hollywood and his new film on photographer Richard Avedon Oscar-winning filmmaker Ron Howard returns to the Cannes Film Festival with Avedon, a new documentary about legendary photographer Richard Avedon. From Apollo 13 to A Beautiful Mind, Howard reflects on a lifetime of storytelling, the changing face of America and the creative curiosity that still drives him after nearly seven decades in Hollywood.
france24 · about 9 hours ago
Romes star of sexy priest calendar hits back after fakery claims Officially named Calendario Romano, each edition showcases 12 black-and-white portraits of men, mostly in clerical attire
independent · about 11 hours ago
Mick Jagger to play Josh OConnors father in new film from Alice Rohrwacher The Rolling Stone will play a lighthouse keeper in Three Incestuous Sisters, joining a cast including Dakota Johnson, Jessie Buckley and Saoirse RonanRolling Stones singer Mick Jagger is playing a lighthouse keeper in the new film from Happy as Lazzaro director Alice Rohrwacher, which is currently filming on the Italian island of Stromboli.According to reports in the Italian media, Jagger was photographed on arrival in Stromboli after flying in by helicopter to take a role in Three Incestuous Sisters, Rohrwachers adaptation of the 2005 visual novel by The Time Travelers Wife author Audrey Niffenegger. Continue reading...
theguardian · about 12 hours ago
Eagles of the Republic review – seductive thriller of corruption and compromise in post-Mubarak Egypt The third film in Tarik Salehs Cairo trilogy is a about a washed-up movie star who is bullied into starring in government propagandaSwedish-Egyptian film-maker Tarik Saleh has long been a brilliant satirist of the corruption and shabby political compromises and conspiracies of post-Mubarak Egypt. Now he brings us the third of his Cairo trilogy, after The Nile Hilton Incident in 2017 and Cairo Conspiracy in 2022. This new film is a seductive black-comic political thriller set in Egypt of the present day, showing us that everyone in the glamorous world of the movies, infatuated as they are with made-up stories acted out by narcissists believing in their own publicity, can so easily be pressed into the service of political propaganda.The result is a rackety, despairing, funny film with something of Billy Wilder, or István Szabós Mephisto, or Bertoluccis fascism parable The Conformist. For me, it also had echoes of Daniel Kehlmanns novel The Director, about 1930s Austrian movie director GW Pabst, fatally tempted by the blandishments of Goebbels. Salehs lead is his longtime leading man Fares Fares, playing an ageing Egyptian movie star; this is pampered matinee idol George Fahmy, a man comfortable doing cheesy crowd-pleasing potboilers, now bullied into playing the lead in a sinister government-sponsored biopic of the president (with news footage of the current president, Abdel Fatah al-Sisi, cheekily cut in). Continue reading...
theguardian · about 12 hours ago