Movie Interviews
Filmmakers Javier Ambrossi and Javier Calvo discuss their new film ‘La Bola Negra’
- Download
- Embed
<iframe src="https://www.npr.org/player/embed/nx-s1-5869481/nx-s1-9967802" width="100%" height="290" frameborder="0" scrolling="no" title="NPR embedded audio player"> - Transcript
NPR’s Scott Simon talks to Spanish filmmakers Javier Ambrossi and Javier Calvo about their new film, La Bola Negra.
The ambitious new film “La Bola Negra” opens with a scene that may remind you of Picasso’s Guernica. It’s 1937, and Sebastian, a trumpet player, is in his northern Spanish village during the Spanish Civil War when people hear word that Italians are coming to their town. They prepare to welcome them when planes shoot from the skies, children sob as they hold on to their slain mothers. Homes burst into flames and horses rear up and run away.
“La Bola Negra” tells this story and many others as it traces queer life in Spain in three different timelines. The film is directed by Javier Calvo and Javier Ambrossi, known as Los Javis in Spain, from an unfinished work by Federico Garcia Lorca. They won the best director award at Cannes for this film. And a warning – this conversation includes the quotation of a homophobic slur. Los Javis joined us now from New York. Thank you so much for being with us.
JAVIER CALVO: Thank you.
JAVIER AMBROSSI: So nice to be here.
SIMON: What drew you to this work by Garcia Lorca?
CALVO: Well, first of all, the timeline – we have three timelines in the movie. So the timelines between Sebastian and Rafael – the one you were talking about – it’s based on a play we saw in 2013. And in the first monologue that talks about the bombing of the town, I started to cry so much, and I knew we had to do something. So I talked to the other Javi, and in the play, they talk about the unfinished work by Federico Garcia Lorca.
And we traveled to Granada to find out what was those pages he wrote. And it was only four pages. But they said – the niece of Federico said that this was going to be the first play of Federico who was going to have a main character that is homosexual. So it was going to be a revolutionary play, and he never could do it because he was murdered by fascism. So we thought, what a loss, and we started from there.
AMBROSSI: And the beautiful thing about those four pages is that the first two pages is a list of characters that was going to be used. And the characters are Carlos, mother, father, friends, and suddenly, it changes to the skiers, the snow. So we fell in love with the idea of reimagining Federico’s world and with such amount of poetry, you know? We don’t have that much poetry in cinema these days.
SIMON: I want to get you to talk about some of the characters. Sebastian – trumpet player – he’s forced into the Nationalist Army – the fascist – and is assigned to guard a man named Rafael. What’s set off between them?
CALVO: That’s the starting point of the play we were based on. We thought it was interesting that Sebastian is a little gay soldier, that he was forced to be in the fascist side, and he suddenly has to take care of an enemy that suddenly awakens things in him that he’s never thought about. And this man – he’s a Republican. He’s the enemy. Those hours they spend together talking while the rest of the world is falling apart, while the bombs burn people, the death surrounds them. But they have this little space of light where we can dream together, for us, was beautiful thing.
AMBROSSI: This is a movie about empathy and about understanding each other. So the core of the movie is the relationship between Rafael and Sebastian and the tenderness between them and about how much they care about each other but without telling each other and without telling the world – as a big secret.
SIMON: Yeah. And tell us about Carlos because “La Bola Negra,” the black ball of the title, fits into his story. He tries to join a social club in Granada. Someone cast that black ball against him joining because of rumors, right?
AMBROSSI: The question about the character of Carlos is whether he’s going to be able to say if he’s or if he’s not gay. And that’s very difficult in a difficult world in the ’32 in Granada in Spain. So that’s the part of the movie that really represents the decision. It is a movie also about a decision and about the decision that really can change our lives to tell the world who we are.
CALVO: It comes to say that when we deny ourselves, we lose life.
SIMON: And then, a character that takes us almost into current times is Alberto. He’s a poet and a playwright. Social life is steered by Grindr, but he gets an inheritance. What does he discover?
CALVO: He gets something really important from a grandfather he never knew. And that starts an adventure of discovering who his grandfather was and why did his grandfather hid something really important for his whole life. Yeah. And we needed that timeline to ground the story and understand that the Civil War – it was our grandparents fighting there. It was only 90 years ago. So it’s a wound that it’s still open, and it’s recent, and we needed a new generation to understand that, that it was almost yesterday.
SIMON: All these stories take us to – back to different periods of gay life in Spain – concealment, persecution and then the relative openness of today. Is this a history that has been largely overlooked, unspoken?
AMBROSSI: I think so. I mean, totally, in my opinion, we have forgotten, at least in Spain, what the LGBTQ+ people that came before us meant and how much they fought and what they did for us and that our freedom is based on their fight. So yes, I think there’s a lot of queer stories that need to be told, and hopefully we can do it.
SIMON: Federico Garcia Lorca’s remains have never been found, I gather. What do we know about his death?
CALVO: We know he was murdered before the sun came up in 1936. He went to Granada. Some people said to him he shouldn’t because in Granada, things were getting bad. The war was starting. He decided to hide in a friend’s house, but somehow, they knew. They took him, and then they were bragging around the town. The guy who killed him, he was like, yeah, yeah, yeah. I made it, and I did it, and he was a faggot. And, you know, it’s such a shame. It’s so painful to talk about it. For me, it’s a symbol for the end of possibility, yes.
AMBROSSI: Federico was killed only 90 years ago and because he was free in a lot of ways. So yeah, only 90. Can you believe? Ninety is like yesterday, and I think a lot of people have forgotten that.
SIMON: Javier Calvo and Javier Ambrossi, known as Los Javis, and their new film, “La Bola Negra.” Thank you so very much for being with us.
CALVO: Thank you so much for your time.
AMBROSSI: Thank you.
(SOUNDBITE OF ALLAH-LAS’ “HOUSTON”)
Accuracy and availability of NPR transcripts may vary. Transcript text may be revised to correct errors or match updates to audio. Audio on npr.org may be edited after its original broadcast or publication. The authoritative record of NPR’s programming is the audio record.
NPR does not offer or accept money for coverage or interviews.
Anyone who makes such an offer or request is not an NPR employee and does not represent NPR.
