Variety publishes a first interview as Movistar Plus’ unleashes on San Sebastián ‘La Bola Negra,’ ‘The Beloved’ and ‘5 More Minutes,’ a testament to its achievement Juan Andrés García Ropero, “Bropi,” Movistar Plus’ new director of content from May 2026, re-adjusts himself in his seat on a Zoom call. For an executive in one of the most pressured jobs in Spain, whom its film and TV industry desperately hope it will continue to invest in movies and shows with an ambition which has yielded “Querer,” “The New Years” and “The Anatomy of a Moment” in TV and “Sirat,” “The Beloved” and “La Bola Negra” in movies, García Ropero seems remarkably relaxed. He does, however, have good reason.
When Variety interviewed García Ropero in late July, he already had on his hands not so much a feature as a movie phenomenon. Recipient of a 16-minute standing ovation and a shared best director award at Cannes, queer epic “La Bola Negra” reflects the extraordinary aspirations of not only writer-director-producers Javier Calvo and Javier Ambrossi but also producer Movistar Plus, the biggest Spanish pay TV/SVOD operator. Those ambitions even two months ago were scaling globally.
Netflix had set a 47-day U.S. theatrical window for “La Bola Negra” the longest for any movie in the streaming giant’s history, as the film also appears to feature among the streamer’s awards priorities for the fall. That breakout success is part of larger traction. In a bigger picture, over 2025-26, apart from France, no country in the world apart, not even the U.S., has had more Cannes main competition contenders than Spain.
Three of the five movies are Movistar Plus originals: Rodrigo Sorogoyen’s “The Beloved,” starring Javier Bardem, “La Bola Negra” and 2025’s “Sirāt,” a two-time Oscar nominee and Cannes Jury Prize winner. A fourth, Pedro Almodovar’s “Bitter Christmas,” was the subject of a muscular Movistar Plus pre-buy. A significant part of the conversation at the 74th edition of Spain’s San Sebastián Film Festival, running Sept. 18-26, looks set to be driven by Movistar Plus does next, the Spanish premiere of “La Bola Negra,” a screening of “The Beloved,” and world premieres of Movistar Plus series “El castillo” and new movie “5 More Minutes.” With all three movies screening on Sept. 19, this converts that day into a kind of Movistar Plus Super Saturday.
Unveiling its first movie slate in January 2024, Movistar Plus talked about creating “event auteur movies.” No Movistar Plus film fits better that description to date than “La Bola Negra.” Boasting big stars – Penelope Cruz is an extended cameo performance as a cabaret star rousing and arousing the troops, and Glenn Close as a modern-day Hispanist academic – “La Bola Negra” braids three inter-connected stories of gay identity, desire, repression and legacy set in 1932, 1937 and 2017, shot in 35 mm, each story mixing different film registers. It has big Spanish stars, such as Miguel Bernardeau (“Elite,” “Querer”), an enormous Spanish ensemble, and “the idea of a super production that is auteur-driven but also very queer,” as Ambrossi told Variety. It will make a lot of noise in San Sebastian and I’m convinced it will mark a milestone in Spanish cinema, a great success for Movistar Plus and and Los Javis, taking them into another dimension,” says García Ropero.
Sold out worldwide by Goodfellas, “La bola negra” will see Elastica Films launch its nationwide theatrical release on Sept. 25. On Wednesday, the film was announced as Spain’s Oscar race entry for International Feature. Framing a monumental performance by Javier Bardem as an Oscar-winning director seeking reconciliation with his daughter (Victoria Luengo) casting her in his latest movie, “The Beloved,”a story about the story people tell, even to deceive themselves, drew excellent reviews at Cannes: “Bardem is “a formidable presence, Luengo “exudes a fascinating quality of pensive engagement” in the film’s memorable opening scene.” The Beloved has also grossed €3.0 million ($3.45 million) in Spain from an Aug. 28 bow.
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