La bola negra will represent Spain in the international feature film category at the 2027 Oscars. Javier Calvo and Javier Ambrossi, known as Los Javis, directed the film, which draws on an unfinished work by Federico García Lorca. Plaza Nueva and Plaza de Santa Ana were reset to look like Granada in 1932. Period details, from cars and republican flags to costumed extras and altered street features, transformed the central setting for the shoot.
Granada offers more than scenery. Filming at Plaza de Santa Ana was coordinated with the ecclesiastical authorities of the San Gil y Santa Ana parish.
The route continues along the Carrera del Darro. Historic buildings, stone bridges and views towards the Alhambra give the film a setting viewers can recognise at once. The architecture does much of the visual work, so the production needed no large sets for these scenes.
Ideal and 20minutos list these central Granada locations among the film's basic shooting sites. Their reports also describe how the city helped recreate the atmosphere of the early 1930s.
The Oscar selection has drawn fresh attention to those places. Granada's streets now form part of the film's public story, beyond their role as a backdrop.
The Albaicín provided another major setting. Its cobbled streets and whitewashed houses, along with small squares and steep slopes, offer a version of Granada that feels exact and timeless.
Nearby, the Carmen de los Mártires sets a different mood. The historic estate on the Alhambra hill has gardens and ponds, with fountains and tree-lined paths. The busy centre and secluded estate show two distinct sides of the city.
The connection with Lorca becomes direct at sites tied to his life and death. Canal Sur's account of the Granada route includes Huerta de San Vicente and the Barranco de Víznar. Both places link the film's locations to the writer's biography.
La Huerta de San Vicente was the García Lorca family's summer residence between 1926 and 1936. It still holds original furniture, including the piano used by the writer.
The route also reaches the Víznar ravine, a place tied to the poet's memory. Together, these sites connect the production to the life of the figure whose unfinished work inspired it.
Public interest in the film has grown. Earlier coverage examined that rise. Antena 3 reported that Calvo and Ambrossi described the project as a story approached with empathy. They also said they want audiences to leave the cinema changed.
That helps explain the role of the Lorca-related locations. They do more than provide period scenery; they carry part of the film's argument.
Infobae places the production beyond Granada, including Sierra Nevada and Oyambre. The report says these locations add a broader national dimension, while Granada remains the film's central visual and historical axis. The shoot also reached Comillas and Valdáliga in Cantabria, Castil de Carrias in Burgos, and Sigüenza in Guadalajara, as well as Madrid and Greece.
Granada remains the clearest centre of the film's geography. Its streets bring together the city's history and Lorca's memory, framed by the production's visual language.
That gives the Oscar campaign a local weight. La bola negra makes Granada part of the story itself, with its streets and historic spaces carrying the period atmosphere and Lorca connection into the 2027 awards campaign.
