La bola negra (The Black Ball), Javier Calvo and Javier Ambrossi’s drama built on an unfinished Federico García Lorca work, leads the nominations for Spain’s 32nd Premios Forqué with five. EGEDA, the body that collects and manages Spanish audiovisual producers’ rights and runs the awards, announced the shortlists on Thursday 12 November. They were drawn from 345 entries, and the winners will be named at a gala at the Palacio Municipal IFEMA Madrid on Saturday 19 December.
The Forqués are the first big night of the Spanish awards season, and EGEDA presents them as the awards traditionally regarded as the industry’s own, which makes the shortlists an early read of where producers’ support lies. Rodrigo Sorogoyen’s El ser querido (The Beloved) follows with three nominations and Marta Matute’s Yo no moriré de amor (I Won’t Die for Love) with two. Isabel Coixet’s Tres adioses (Three Goodbyes), an Italian-language Italy–Spain co-production released in Italy as Tre ciotole, completes the best-film shortlist.
Key facts
- Event: 32nd Premios Forqué, organised by EGEDA; gala on 19 December at the Palacio Municipal IFEMA Madrid
- Entries: 345, including 125 fiction features, 82 documentaries, 8 animated features, 66 short films, 32 series and 32 Latin American films; 104 titles were considered for the values award
- Most-nominated films: La bola negra (5), El ser querido (3), Yo no moriré de amor (2)
- Most-nominated series: Celeste season 2, El castillo and Se tiene que morir mucha gente (3 each)
- Eduard Fernández is the only performer nominated for both a film and a series
The full list of nominees
Best fiction feature – El ser querido (The Beloved), Rodrigo Sorogoyen – La bola negra (The Black Ball), Javier Calvo and Javier Ambrossi – Tres adioses (Three Goodbyes), Isabel Coixet – Yo no moriré de amor (I Won’t Die for Love), Marta Matute
Best actress – Carmen Maura, Calle Málaga – Lola Dueñas, La bola negra – Penélope Cruz, La bola negra – Victoria Luengo, El ser querido
Best actor – Alberto San Juan, La luz – Eduard Fernández, El mal padre – Guitarricadelafuente, La bola negra – Javier Bardem, El ser querido
Best fiction series – Celeste, season 2 (Diego San José) – El castillo (Isabel Peña and Eduardo Villanueva) – Ravalejar (Pol Rodríguez) – Se tiene que morir mucha gente (Victoria Martín)
Best actress in a series – Anna Castillo, Se tiene que morir mucha gente – Macarena García, Se tiene que morir mucha gente – Carmen Machi, Celeste season 2 – Valentina Vidal, El castillo
Best actor in a series – Eduard Fernández, Matar a un oso – Enric Auquer, Ravalejar – Manolo Solo, Celeste season 2 – Raúl Arévalo, El castillo
Best Latin American film – Hangar Rojo, Juan Pablo Sallato M. (Chile) – La virgen de la Tosquera, Laura Casabé (Argentina) – Moscas, Fernando Eimbcke (Mexico) – Narciso, Marcelo Martinessi (Paraguay)
Best documentary feature – 200 vidas. Paco Rabal, Vanesa Benítez – Carlos Saura. Ese niño de la fotografía, Anna Saura – Forqué, el oficio de hacer cine, Gaizka Urresti and Rafael Maluenda – Historias del buen valle, José Luis Guerín
Best animated feature – Evolution, Julio Soto Gúrpide and Zayra Muñoz Domínguez – La violinista, Ervin Han and Raúl García – Tadeo Jones y la lámpara maravillosa (Tadeo Jones and the Magic Lamp), Enrique Gato – Winnipeg, el barco de la esperanza, Beñat Beitia and Elio Quiroga
Best short film – Cara de cona, Guillermo de Oliveira – In memoriam, Teresa Bellón and César F. Calvillo – Ser un hombre, Lucas Parra
Cinema and Education in Values award – Iván & Hadoum, Ian de la Rosa – La bola negra, Javier Calvo and Javier Ambrossi – Pioneras: solo querían jugar, Marta Díaz de Lope Díaz – Yo no moriré de amor, Marta Matute
The front-runners
La bola negra collects its five through best film, the values award, best-actress nominations for both Lola Dueñas and Penélope Cruz, and a best-actor nod for the singer Guitarricadelafuente in his first screen role. Few Spanish films arrive at an awards season with a record like it. It is Spain’s entry for the international feature Oscar, won Calvo and Ambrossi a share of the best director prize at Cannes, and has taken audience awards at Toronto, San Sebastián, Sydney and the BFI London Film Festival. At home it had grossed an estimated €36.7m ($41.0m at the European Central Bank rate of 3 November) by 1 November, according to Rentrak figures reported by Variety, third among Spanish productions on the all-time chart. A Movistar Plus original, it was released in Spanish cinemas by Elastica Films.
El ser querido stars Javier Bardem as a celebrated director who reunites with his estranged daughter, played by Victoria Luengo, and both leads are nominated alongside the film. Bardem already holds a Forqué for best actor, won for El buen patrón in 2022, EGEDA noted, and was nominated for Todos lo saben and Biutiful.
In television, three of the four best-series nominees carry three nominations each. Diego San José’s Celeste returns for a second season in which its tax inspector, Sara Santano, investigates a famous footballer who has tried to dodge his taxes.
Latin America and the rest of the field
The Latin American award spans four countries: Chile, Argentina, Mexico and Paraguay. Marcelo Martinessi’s Narciso has already won the top prize at Chile’s Sanfic this year. In documentary, two nominees are portraits of Spanish film figures, the actor Paco Rabal and the director Carlos Saura, and a third profiles José María Forqué, the producer and director the awards are named after.
By FilmBunch’s count, the shortlists name 29 different films and series across 11 categories. La bola negra and Yo no moriré de amor are the only titles nominated for both best film and the values award, and the best-actor race is spread across four different films.
Our reading
For producers, the Forqués matter less as a trophy than as the first count of industry support before the Goya nominations. On that count La bola negra starts well clear, and Movistar Plus and Elastica now have a domestic awards run to set beside the film’s Oscar campaign. The more open contests are best actor, where no film has two nominees, and the series award, where three titles arrive level on three nominations each. The next evidence is the Goya shortlist, and then the gala on 19 December. More Spanish film-business coverage.
Sources
- Premio Cinematográfico José María Forqué, finalists of the 32nd edition (official site)
- EGEDA announcement of the 32nd Forqué nominees, as published by TTV News, 12 November 2026
- Cine y Tele, Forqué nominees for best fiction feature, 13 November 2026
- Cineuropa, The Beloved (El ser querido) and I Won't Die for Love (Yo no moriré de amor) film pages
- SEMINCI, Three Goodbyes (Tre ciotole), Isabel Coixet
- Variety, The Black Ball (La Bola Negra) premieres in Cannes competition, May 2026
- RTVE, all the Forqué nominations, 12 November 2026