The black ball begins its campaign in Hollywood with a view to the Oscar

The Black Ball phenomenon has begun its landing in Hollywood. There are billboards promoting the Spanish film in various parts of the city, and its directors, Javier Ambrossi and Javier Calvo, are already in Los Angeles for the start of what promises to be an awards season as intense as it is historic for Spanish cinema. At the end of the road, the possible dream of an Oscar, or several, not only for best international film but for Best Picture, the jackpot. A milestone that some media in the United States already give as a real possibility for the film that this year represents Spain in the race for the golden statuettes.

The excitement and desire are palpable. The Javises beamed with smiles and gave out handshakes and hugs on Saturday afternoon, posing patiently with those who asked for a photo or a selfie after a showing of the tape at the Netflix offices on Sunset Boulevard, in the heart of Los Angeles. They know that it will be a long-distance race and that lobbying voters from the Golden Globes or the Hollywood Academy is essential for the film to continue having a stellar run.

Only on Saturday they were presenting the film at the Santa Barbara Film Festival, then traveling back to Los Angeles and participating in a brief discussion, before crossing the street and greeting the press after another screening of a film that will officially premiere in theaters on October 16 in the United States. Ahead, a month of promotion far from home while in Spain they are already a historic phenomenon at the box office, exceeding 4.7 million euros in their first weekend and in just eight days they are already close to 13 million euros in revenue.

On Friday, the Critics Choice Association awarded them in Beverly Hills the award for Best Director at the sixth edition of the film and television celebration, a gala that recognizes the work of the Hispanic community in the entertainment industry. "We feel incredibly lucky to be able to tell stories together, to challenge each other, to dream together and, ultimately, to create something that we hope connects with people beyond ourselves," Calvo said upon receiving the award, calling the experience "surreal."

It seems like just the beginning of how much they both have ahead of them. Netflix, the platform that distributes the Lorca drama in the United States - partially based on an unfinished work by the Granada poet - has already put all its powerful machinery in motion to achieve what it has been longing for for more than a decade: the Oscar for Best Film. He was close to that recognition with Alfonso Cuarón's Roma, but he fell short. With The Black Ball he departs with unusual force. Not only has it enjoyed the almost unanimous fervor of critics and audiences at every festival the film has been through. The two great oracles of the US film industry, Variety and The Hollywood Reporter, have placed it at the top of their Oscar pools. The first gives her ten nominations in its predictions, including direction, supporting actress (for Penélope Cruz and her extraordinary contribution in a few scenes of the film), adapted screenplay, costumes and editing. The second goes further and talks about 14.