Netflix Nears Deal on ‘La Bola Negra’ After Cannes Bidding War (EXCLUSIVE)

Following its buzzy Cannes premiere, Javier Ambrossi and Javier Calvo’s “La Bola Negra” (“The Black Ball”) is selling to Netflix in deal believed to be in the $5 million-range.

The ambitious film, which marked the Cannes competition debut for the filmmaking duo known collectively as Los Javis, earned a vibrant 16-minute standing ovation at its premiere on Thursday night. On Friday, multiple distributors, including Neon, A24 and Mubi circled the movie for the U.S. rights. Goodfellas is negotiating the international deal on behalf of the filmmakers. Because a pact has not been finalized, it is possible that a sale to Netflix could fall apart.

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The sale marks the second major bidding war of this year’s festival following Jordan Firstman’s “Club Kid,” which ultimately landed at A24 in a $17 million acquisition.

“The Black Ball” — a queer epic spanning 85 years of Spanish history and inspired by an unfinished fragment by Spanish poet and playwright Federico García Lorca — is in contention for both the Palme d’Or and the Queer Palm. Ambrossi and Calvo co-wrote the screenplay with playwright Alberto Conejero.

The story traces the interconnected lives of three gay men across three eras — 1932, 1937, and 2017 — braiding together stories of desire, loss, and what one generation bequeaths to the next. The film’s title alludes to a mode of social rejection: a black ball cast into a voting urn to deny a young gay man entry into a Granada club. The film stars Spanish singer-songwriter Guitarricadelafuente in his screen debut, alongside Miguel Bernardeau, Carlos González, Milo Quifes and Lola Dueñas, with Glenn Close in a supporting role and Penélope Cruz contributing an extended cameo. Variety’s Guy Lodge described the film a having “a florid formal approach and heart-on-sleeve emotionalism that will win it fans at home and abroad, both in and outside of the LGBT arthouse market.”

“The Black Ball” is co-produced by Movistar Plus+, Los Javis’ Suma Content Films, Pedro and Agustín Almodóvar’s El Deseo and Le Pacte.

Netflix has a track record with major Spanish-language awards contenders, notably Jacques Audiard’s “Emilia Perez” which racked up 13 Oscar nominations including best picture, making it the most nominated non-English language film ever. The movie went on to win two Oscars — best supporting actress for Zoe Saldana and best original song for “El Mal.” Netflix had also handled “Roma,” Alfonso Cuaron’s black-and-white drama set in 1970s Mexico City, which ultimately landed 10 nomination and won three Oscars, best foreign-language film, best director and best cinematography.

Brent Lang contributed to this report.