La bola negra earns 10 European Film Awards nominations, behind Fatherland's 11

Nominations announced

The European Film Academy announced the nominations for the 39th European Film Awards on Saturday, 14 November 2026. Fatherland, the film by Polish director Paweł Pawlikowski, leads the list with 11 nominations, one more than La bola negra, the Spanish feature by Javier Calvo and Javier Ambrossi, known as Los Javis. The nominations are based on votes from the Academy's 5,700 members, according to El Mundo. Fjord, the Romanian film by Cristian Mungiu, has five nominations and is in contention for best film, best director and best screenplay. The ceremony is set for 16 January 2027 in Athens.

Fatherland11

La bola negra10

Fjord5

Fatherland

11 nominations

La bola negra

10 nominations

Fjord

5 nominations

Data from the article text

La bola negra's tally

La bola negra received 10 nominations, including best film, best director and best screenplay. Calvo and Ambrossi share the screenplay nomination with Alberto Conejero, who co-wrote the script. The technical nominations cover costume design for Ana López Cobos, editing for Alberto Gutiérrez, make-up and hairdressing for Pablo Morillas and Mariló Osuna, and sound for a four-person team. Casting is credited to Eva Leira and Yolanda Serrano, cinematography to Gris Jordana and production design to Roger Bellés. The total is well above the four nominations Sirât received at the previous edition, and the composer Raül Refree, who had hoped for a best original music nomination for the film, was not selected.

Sirât (previous edition)4

La bola negra (39th edition)10

Sirât (previous edition)

4 nominations

La bola negra (39th edition)

10 nominations

Data from the article text

Box office and critics

The film won a shared best director prize at Cannes with Pawlikowski, and it has continued to draw attention since then. Critics were largely positive, with The New Yorker cited as a notable exception. At the box office, La bola negra has become the Spanish film most watched this year, with 5.7 million tickets sold, ahead of Torrente Presidente by Santiago Segura. Its gross of more than 38 million euros ranks third in the history of Spanish cinema, behind Ocho apellidos vascos and Lo imposible. Those figures place it among the strongest commercial runs of Spanish film in recent memory.

Acting categories

Javier Bardem is nominated for best actor for El ser querido, directed by Rodrigo Sorogoyen. He competes with Swann Arlaud for A Man of His Time, Andrew Scott for Elsinore, Sebastian Stan for Fjord and Hanns Zischler for Fatherland. Penélope Cruz is nominated for best actress for Bunker, directed by Florian Zeller, against Mathilde Arcel for Woman Unknown, Renate Reinsve for Fjord and Léa Seydoux for Gentle Monster. Sandra Hüller is nominated twice, for Fatherland and for Rose. Alberto Iglesias is nominated for the music of Pedro Almodóvar's Amarga Navidad.

The rest of the field

Fifteen films from 19 countries compete for best European film. Alongside Fatherland, La bola negra and Fjord, the list includes La Gradiva by Marine Atlan and Woman Unknown by May el-Toukhy. Among the documentary and animated nominees are Naza, Whispers in the Woods, In Waves and Viva Carmen. Six of the 15 best film contenders are directed or co-directed by women, which is 40% of the category. The documentary Rehearsals for a Revolution, by Pegah Ahangarani, is also nominated. The ceremony takes place on 16 January 2027 in Athens.