‘Los domingos,’ ‘El ser querido’ and ‘La bola negra’ shortlisted to represent Spain at the Oscars

Three Spanish films remain in the running to represent Spain in the international feature category at the 99th Academy Awards: Alauda Ruiz de Azúa’s “Los domingos,” Rodrigo Sorogoyen’s “El ser querido,” and Javier Ambrossi and Javier Calvo’s “La bola negra.”

Spain’s Film Academy will make the final selection on September 16. The Oscars are scheduled for March 14, 2027, at the Dolby Theatre in Los Angeles. Academy members selected the shortlist from 33 feature films released between October 1, 2025, and September 30, 2026.

“La bola negra” received a major boost at Cannes, where Ambrossi and Calvo shared the award for best director with Pavel Pawlikowski for “Fatherland.” The film follows three gay men across three periods, 1932, 1937 and 2017. It draws partly on Alberto Conejero’s play “The Dark Stone” and four pages from Federico García Lorca’s unfinished work of the same name. Its cast includes Penélope Cruz, Glenn Close, Guitarricadelafuente and Miguel Bernardeau.

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We all have a story, a burden, and it is up to us to remove the weights we do not want for our children.

“El ser querido,” which premiered at Cannes, stars Javier Bardem as a violent film director who returns to Spain to make a movie and wants his estranged daughter, played by Victoria Luengo, to lead it. Bardem said, “We all have a story, a burden, and it is up to us to remove the weights we do not want for our children.”

“Los domingos” follows a young woman in the 21st century who wants to enter a convent. Ruiz de Azúa said, “If I love cinema, it is because it always teaches me that you can look from somewhere else, look differently, including at what is foreign to you. Trying to understand something does not mean sharing it.” The film won the Golden Shell at the San Sebastián Film Festival and later received major Goya awards, including best film, director and original screenplay.

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If I love cinema, it is because it always teaches me that you can look from somewhere else, look differently, including at what is foreign to you. Trying to understand something does not mean sharing it.