Featured in Refocus Film Festival 2026
"Every cast member eschews excess to convey the complex dance between terror, subversion and defiance that defined queer love and desire for so much of the 20th century."—Christos Tsiolkas, The Saturday Paper
"Art director Roger Bellés and costume designer Ana López Cobos have crafted something truly staggering."—Shannon Connellan, Mashable
"A gorgeous historical epic that pays immense tribute to Lorca’s ahead-of-his-time work."—Jack Martin, Film Feeder
Spanish poet and playwright Federico García Lorca only wrote four pages of the epic La bola negra. Taking these four pages and the play La piedra oscura by Alberto Conejero as their basis for the film, Cannes-winning directors Javier Calvo and Javier Ambrossi follow three generations of men across pivotal moments in Spanish history, bound by pain, desire, and love. Carlos (Milo Quifes) longs to belong in a fractured Spain. Sebastián (Guitarricadelafuente) finds connection across enemy lines. And Alberto (Carlos González) uncovers a long-buried family secret—one that finally gives voice to truths the past tried to erase.