La Bola Negra's 'La Nieve' Enters the Oscar Song Race — and Its Singer Could Make History
The Hollywood Reporter has exclusively revealed that "La Nieve," the Spanish-language ballad from Javier Ambrossi and Javier Calvo's film La Bola Negra, is being submitted for best original song consideration at the 2027 Academy Awards. The tune, whose title translates to "The Snow," plays over an emotional snow-set scene late in the film. It was co-written with producer Raül Refree and performed in the film by Álvaro Lafuente Calvo, the 28-year-old multi-platinum recording artist and Latin Grammy nominee known professionally as Guitarricadelafuente. The Hollywood Reporter
What gives the submission a particular charge is the fact that Guitarricadelafuente also acts in the film. He makes his screen debut as Sebastián, a Nationalist soldier tasked with guarding a Republican soldier, played by Miguel Bernardeau, during the Spanish Civil War. If the film's awards campaign lands nominations in both an acting category and best original song, Guitarricadelafuente would become only the fifth person ever to achieve that double for a single film. The short list before him: Mary J. Blige in 2018, Lady Gaga in 2019, Cynthia Erivo in 2020, and Leslie Odom Jr. in 2021. The Hollywood Reporter
La Bola Negra chronicles three generations of Spaniards linked by the last unfinished play of the poet and playwright Federico García Lorca. The film premiered at Cannes, where it was a breakout, and Netflix subsequently acquired it for an awards run. The Hollywood Reporter
The streaming giant is giving the film an unusually long theatrical window before it moves online. La Bola Negra will open in US cinemas on 16 October and begin streaming on 2 December, a 47-day gap of theatrical exclusivity. That is the longest such window Netflix has ever granted a single film, surpassing the 31 days it gave Noah Baumbach's Marriage Story in 2019. A "platform release" means the film opens in a limited number of theatres and expands over subsequent weeks, building word-of-mouth ahead of a wider rollout. The Hollywood Reporter
The film carries the mark of Movistar Plus+, the Spanish telecom-backed streamer that produced it as an original. An official trailer released in June presents it as "LA BOLA NEGRA original M+," directed by Ambrossi and Calvo, the duo widely known in Spain as Los Javis, and featuring Guitarricadelafuente. Movistar Plus+ on Instagram
For Guitarricadelafuente, the Oscar submission arrives in the middle of a busy stretch. He is currently on tour promoting his album Spanish Leather and recently performed his song "BABIECA!" on Jimmy Kimmel Live! The song "La Nieve" also carries a personal dimension: in Movistar Plus+'s coverage of the film, the track is discussed alongside a quote from the artist referencing his late father — "A mi padre, que lo perdí." The Hollywood Reporter; Movistar Plus+ on TikTok
The 2027 Oscar ceremony will settle whether "La Nieve" earns a nomination and whether Guitarricadelafuente joins that rare company of dual acting-and-songwriting contenders. For now, Netflix's longest theatrical window signals the seriousness of the campaign behind both the film and its breakout star.
