For out actors Carlos González and Milo Quifes, “La Bola Negra” isn’t just far and away the biggest project they’ve been involved in. It’s also one of the most acclaimed films of the year and a queer masterpiece.
The film opens in Atlanta Oct. 29 before streaming on Netflix Dec. 2.
“La Bola Negra” took home the Cannes Film Festival Award for Best Director for Javier Calvo and Javier Ambrossi, also known as “Los Javis.” The two are a directing and writing duo, as well as former romantic partners (they amicably split in November of 2025). They previously created the television series “Veneno” and have appeared as judges on “Drag Race España.”
Inspired by an uncompleted work by poet and playwright Federico García Lorca and by Alberto Conejero’s play “La piedra oscura,” the film follows three generations of young gay men in Spain. Spain has chosen “La Bola Negra” as its submission to the Best International Feature Film category for the 2027 Academy Awards. The film also starts Glenn Close, Penélope Cruz, and Julio Torres.
González and Quifes recently spoke to Georgia Voice about the new film.
Quifes plays Carlos, a young man living in Granada in 1932. Carlos is trying to become a member of an exclusive members-only casino, the selection process for which gives the film its title.
“He’s looking for a white ball as a symbol of acceptance, both by the society in Granada but also from his family and his parents,” Quifes said. “Unfortunately, he gets the black ball.”
González stars as Alberto, a historian living in the year 2017 and writing a thesis in Greece. His grandfather dies and leaves him an inheritance, forever changing his life and bringing up old familial wounds between him and his mother, Teresa (Lola Dueñas).
“He is running away from painful situations in his life until he receives an unexpected call that begins a journey of inheritance and love,” González said. “Not just maternal love, but love towards the self.”
The third section of the film takes place in 1937 and follows Sebastián (Guitarricadelafuente), a young man forced to join the Nationalist forces during the Spanish Civil War after his village is attacked. He develops an attraction to Rafael (Miguel Ángel Bernardeau), a prisoner he is guarding.
The directors sought mostly queer actors for the leading roles in the film (Bernardeau identifies as straight). Both González and Quifes are huge fans of Los Javis – and of the script – and look at the experience of being in the film as the opportunity of a lifetime
Working with Los Javis was a gift, according to González.
“They give each actor and actress what they need,” he said. “And they have so much heart and concentration. They give their life to this and they bring you along. It’s like they are embodying the script in their bodies. Javi Calvo knows all the lines in the script and Javi Ambrossi never lets you slip out of character. The energy they bring to the set is incredible.”
Quifes was thankful to the directors for their ease with the huge ensemble cast, especially for those relatively new in their career, like him.
“[For those] that is their first time, [it was about] walking you by the hand to teach you to run,” he said. “They know when to release you with love and tenderness so you can do it on your own.”
One of the central themes of “La Bola Negra” is the passing along of stories from one generation to another. That is one aspect of the story that Quifes admired – the opportunity to acknowledge and improve the past and correct those mistakes.
For González, one of the honors of being a part of “La Bola Negra” is being able to tell a story with such unapologetic queer content.
“To have the opportunity to tell a queer story without explanations – or having to underline that it is a queer character – is great, but as an actor to have the opportunity to build a character with a story beyond the sexuality is something I have been asking the universe for for a long time,” he said. “It feels like real vindication that we can do a movie without falling into cliches and I trust that there are people that we still haven’t seen onscreen and whose stories are important to tell.”
“La Bola Negra” opens October 29 at Phipps Plaza.
