Javier Calvo and Javier Ambrossi's 160-minute Spanish epic "La Bola Negra" took the People's Choice Award at the 51st Toronto International Film Festival on September 20. The film, inspired by an unfinished Federico Garcia Lorca play, stars Guitarricadelafuente alongside Penelope Cruz and Glenn Close. It is the first Netflix film to win TIFF's top audience prize and the first non-English-language winner since 2011's "Where Do We Go Now?". The film opens theatrically October 16 before hitting Netflix December 2, with a 47-day exclusive window, the longest in Netflix's history. Thirteen of the last 16 People's Choice winners at TIFF went on to receive Best Picture Oscar nominations. Peter Farrelly's "I Play Rocky" took second place; Sian Heder's "Being Heumann" placed third.

Primary: TIFF Press Release, 20 September 2026

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