La Bola Negra won the People’s Choice Award at the Toronto International Film Festival, the top audience prize announced on September 20 as the festival closed its 2026 edition. The festival had run since September 10, and the award is decided by ballots cast by audiences across the run rather than by a jury. It is followed closely each year for its record of pointing toward the coming awards season, with several past winners going on to major nominations and wins.
The film was directed by the Spanish pair known as Los Javis, Javier Calvo and Javier Ambrossi. It stars Penelope Cruz and Glenn Close, alongside the musician Guitarricadelafuente, and draws on an unfinished play by Federico Garcia Lorca. Released for English-language audiences as The Black Ball, it traces a story of queer desire and repression that moves across several decades, and it reached Toronto as one of the more ambitious titles in the lineup after strong notices at Cannes.
La Bola Negra premiered in competition at the Cannes Film Festival in May 2026, where Los Javis won the award for best director, before its Toronto screenings. Netflix holds distribution rights and has set out plans for a theatrical release supported by an awards campaign in the months ahead, positioning the film as a contender for the coming Oscar season.
In the audience vote, I Play Rocky, directed by Peter Farrelly, finished as the first runner-up, followed by Being Heumann from Sian Heder in second place. The People’s Choice documentary award went to Darlene Love: I Know Where I’ve Been, directed by Barry Avrich, while the Midnight Madness audience prize went to Ladies and Gentlemen, Brian Mulroney, directed by Matthew Rankin.
Toronto does not hand out a competitive top jury prize, which gives the audience vote added weight as a reading of how a film has been received. The win placed La Bola Negra among the early front runners of the season and gave Los Javis a second significant prize for the film after its Cannes premiere in the spring. Netflix is expected to steer the picture through the autumn festival and release calendar as the awards period opens.
