CFF: La Bola Negra

Winner of Best Director at Cannes, The Black Ball confirms Javier Calvo and Javier Ambrossi’s ambition to create what might be called a gay blockbuster: cinema of scale, beauty, and emotional reach, placing queer lives at its centre.

Spanning 1932, 1937, and 2017, the film interweaves the lives of three gay men, exploring desire, repression, and enduring silence.

At its heart is Federico García Lorca—murdered, mythologised, and too often removed from his homosexuality.

By reclaiming Lorca as a defining gay cultural icon of Spain, Los Javis transform silenced histories into a sweeping collective memory, made for the wide, world audience.

The Cambridge Film Festival is presented by the Cambridge Film Trust, a registered charity widening access to cinema and supporting emerging talent through film, education and community programmes.