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La Bola Negra Leads Early Oscar Contenders
Confirmed
In Short: Contenders include Romania’s 'Fjord,' Poland’s 'Fatherland,' South Korea’s 'Possible Love,' Japan’s 'All of a Sudden,' and France’s 'Minotaur,' with the number of entries surpassing 90.
The Spanish film 'La Bola Negra' is among early favorites for the Best International Feature Film at the 99th Academy Awards, with Guitarricadelafuente set to attend the Toronto International Film Festival to accept the International Spotlight Award and participate in a post-screening discussion.
The film, directed by Javier Calvo and Javier Ambrossi, has been selected as Spain's entry for the Oscars and clocks in at 159 minutes.
La Bola Negra' features a triptych story structure spanning 1932, 1937, and 2017, delving into the intertwined lives of three men bound by a shared thread of desire, sexuality, enduring pain, and the lasting weight of their complex legacies.
The Academy will assign voters in the international category lists of required-viewing films, most likely in late October, as the submission deadline for the best international feature Oscar has passed.
Contenders include Romania’s 'Fjord,' Poland’s 'Fatherland,' South Korea’s 'Possible Love,' Japan’s 'All of a Sudden,' and France’s 'Minotaur,' with the number of entries surpassing 90.
La Bola Negra' arrives with the TIFF People’s Choice Award, while Cannes has supplied two major players: Palme d’Or winner 'Fjord,' representing Romania, and runner-up 'Minotaur,' which will compete for France.
Woman Unknown,' Denmark’s selection and the Golden Lion winner, has perhaps the biggest question mark attached to its Oscar prospects as it still seeks U.S. distribution.
Preliminary voting for the Oscars shortlist in 12 categories runs from December 1 to 15, with the Governors Awards taking place on November 12, which will hand out honorary Oscars to Glenn Close and Ridley Scott.
Background
May El-Toukhy’s film 'Woman Unknown' has been selected as Denmark’s entry for the Best International Feature Film category at the 99th Academy Awards.
La bola negra, also known as The Black Ball, is a 2026 drama film directed by Javier Calvo and Javier Ambrossi, from a screenplay they co-wrote with Alberto Conejero.
In physical geography, a fjord is a long, relatively narrow sea inlet with steep sides or cliffs in a valley created by a former glacier, which has since become inundated with water. They are the glacial equivalent of drowned river valleys, known as rias.
What's confirmed
- The Spanish film 'La Bola Negra' is among early favorites for the Best International Feature Film at the 99th Academy Awards, with Guitarricadelafuente set to attend the Toronto International Film Festival to accept the International Spotlight Award and participate in a post-screening discussion.
- The film, directed by Javier Calvo and Javier Ambrossi, has been selected as Spain's entry for the Oscars and clocks in at 159 minutes.
- La Bola Negra' features a triptych story structure spanning 1932, 1937, and 2017, delving into the intertwined lives of three men bound by a shared thread of desire, sexuality, enduring pain, and the lasting weight of their complex legacies.
- The Academy will assign voters in the international category lists of required-viewing films, most likely in late October, as the submission deadline for the best international feature Oscar has passed.
- Contenders include Romania’s 'Fjord,' Poland’s 'Fatherland,' South Korea’s 'Possible Love,' Japan’s 'All of a Sudden,' and France’s 'Minotaur,' with the number of entries surpassing 90.
- La Bola Negra' arrives with the TIFF People’s Choice Award, while Cannes has supplied two major players: Palme d’Or winner 'Fjord,' representing Romania, and runner-up 'Minotaur,' which will compete for France.
- Woman Unknown,' Denmark’s selection and the Golden Lion winner, has perhaps the biggest question mark attached to its Oscar prospects as it still seeks U.S. distribution.
- Preliminary voting for the Oscars shortlist in 12 categories runs from December 1 to 15, with the Governors Awards taking place on November 12, which will hand out honorary Oscars to Glenn Close and Ridley Scott.
What's still developing
- La Bola Negra ‘s Guitarricadelafuente will accept the International Spotlight Award for his performance in the film and his original song “La Nieve”, participating in the Composers & Songwriters panel.
- 1, 2026): The submission deadline for the best international feature Oscar has come and gone and now the industry waits to see how many countries are ultimately entering the race.
- Popular on Variety While we await the official tally, several contenders have already made their cases on the festival circuit.
- The new trailer for La Bola Negra is here, and if you have been hearing the early Oscar buzz around this Spanish-language queer epic, consider this your sign to start paying attention.
- I had the chance to see La Bola Negra ahead of its theatrical release, and I left the screening not only reveling but also knowing I had just watched one of the films that will be talked about throughout awards season.
- At the center of La Bola Negra are Carlos (Milo Quifes), Sebastián ( Guitarricadelafuente ) and Alberto (Carlos González), three men whose lives unfold in very different versions of Spain.
- The film takes inspiration from Federico García Lorca’s unfinished work La bola negra, while also drawing from Alberto Conejero’s play La piedra oscura.
Sources
- Awards Watchlink
- Dark Horizonslink
- Deadlinelink
- TheWraplink
- Varietylink
- front mezz junkieslink
- gayety.comlink
- WarpBeat — background on Denmark Selects 'Woman Unknown' for Oscar International Feature Race link
- Wikipedia — background on La bola negra link
- Wikipedia — background on Fjord link
- Le Pacte — video link