Inside La Bola Negra: The already viral, award-winning ‘queer epic’ directed by two iconic Drag Race judges

La Bola Negra, the upcoming gay love story spanning three time periods, is directed by Los Javis and has already scooped Best Director at Cannes. Plus, Glenn Close saying the title has gone viral.

If there's one urgent queer film you need on your radar right now, it's La Bola Negra. The Spanish epic — which translates as The Black Ball — tells an interconnected gay love story across three time periods, and it's already making waves before it even hits UK cinemas.

What makes it even more exciting for Drag Race fans? It's directed by Javier Calvo and Javier Ambrossi, the duo known as Los Javis, who won the Best Director award at the 2026 Cannes Film Festival. The award was shared ex aequo with Paweł Pawlikowski, and the film was also nominated for the Palme d'Or.

UK audiences will recognise Los Javis as main judges on Drag Race España, where they've sat on the panel alongside Ana Locking since the show launched. Calvo is best known for his role in Física o Química and for creating the television series Paquita Salas and Veneno with Ambrossi. This is their second feature film, following 2017's Holy Camp.

The two were in a relationship for 13 years whilst working together, but they ended their romantic relationship after being together since they became producing partners, though they remain committed to maintaining all their shared professional commitments. Their split happened during production of La Bola Negra, but they've stressed it won't impact the film or their future work as a creative duo.

What's the film actually about?

The film follows the story of three men whose lives are intimately connected through desire, pain and inheritance, across three different eras — 1932, 1937 and 2017. It's intimately linked by sexuality and desire, pain and inheritance, and one of Federico García Lorca's last, unfinished works.

The film is inspired by La bola negra, an unfinished novel by Federico García Lorca, who wrote four pages of the work before being murdered in 1936. Lorca was a gay man whose life was cut short before he could finish the story, making this adaptation a particularly poignant tribute.

The cast is stacked with talent. Spanish music sensation Guitarricadelafuente makes his acting debut, alongside Elite star Miguel Bernardeau, with an ensemble including Carlos González, Milo Quifes, Lola Dueñas, Julio Torres, Penélope Cruz and Glenn Close.

Why's it gone viral?

For a brilliantly random reason, as is always the case with the best viral moments. Academy Award-winning icon Glenn Close stars in the film, and a video of her connected to La Bola Negra has been doing the rounds on social media, putting the film on everyone's radar.

When can we watch it?

La Bola Negra will be released in UK and Irish cinemas on 6th November 2026. In the US, it has a theatrical release on October 16 ahead of a Netflix streaming premiere on December 2 — though it remains to be seen whether UK audiences will also get it on Netflix after the cinema run.

With a Cannes win already under its belt and a 20-minute standing ovation at its festival premiere, this is shaping up to be one of the most important queer films of the year. Mark your calendars.