Poet silenced by Franco's regime

Federico García Lorca, a Spanish poet, playwright and theatre director, was most likely executed aged thirty-eight by General Francisco Franco's Nationalist forces in August nineteen thirty-eight during Spain's civil war.

Decades of censorship and secrecy

Lorca's works were banned until nineteen fifty-three, then heavily censored until Franco's death in nineteen seventy-five. His family concealed his queer work for fear of tainting his legacy.

Lost sonnets finally published

The Sonnets of Dark Love emerged in nineteen eighty-three against the family's will, revealing Lorca's overtly queer poetry that had been hidden for decades.

Four pages become epic film

La Bola Negra, four pages Lorca wrote shortly before his murder, has been adapted into a queer epic spanning eighty-plus years by directorial duo Javier Calvo and Javier Ambrossi, known as Los Javis.

Triumph at Cannes and box office

Drawing on Lorca's fragment and the play La Piedra Oscura by screenplay co-writer Alberto Conejero, the film is Palme d'Or-nominated and one of the biggest box office hits in Spanish history.

Three timelines, one story

La Bola Negra opens in nineteen thirty-seven with trumpet player Sebastián, played by musician Guitarricadelafuente. An Italian bombing raid kills his mother, forcing him to flee and eventually become a prison guard.

Forbidden love in wartime

Sebastián's ward is real-life Atlético Madrid player Rafael Rodríguez Rapún, played by Miguel Bernardeau. As Rafael recuperates from his wounds, Sebastián becomes captivated by him in cinematographer Gris Jordana's aching camerawork.

Rejection and family pressure

In Granada nineteen thirty-two, wealthy young man Carlos, played by novelist Milo Quifes in his screen debut, is cruelly rejected from a prestigious club via black ball vote because of his illicit meetings with men.

Present day unravels the past

In twenty seventeen, queer music historian Alberto, played by Carlos González, receives an unexpected inheritance from his late grandfather. His boyfriend Juan urges him to investigate his family history in Cantabria.

Penélope Cruz's transformative role

Penélope Cruz delivers a show-stopping cameo as Nené, a historic cupletista. She tells Sebastián that bravery is the fantasy of the possible, and war is the opposite, urging him to flee to Madrid.

“Is the fantasy of the possible, and war is the opposite.”

Stories buried, stories resurfaced

As Lorca says in the film, this country has too many love stories buried in the fields. La Bola Negra is a releasing scratch for the lovers bold and lost, their stories resurfaced and honoured.

“This country has too many love stories buried in the fields.”