The Directors Behind Veneno and La Bola Negra Are Coming to Miami Film Festival GEMS

There is a particular kind of creative partnership that produces work no single person could make alone — where the collaboration is so complete that the two voices become one. Javier Calvo and Javier Ambrossi, the Spanish directors and writers known collectively as Los Javis, are that kind of partnership. And on Wednesday, November 4 at 7:00 PM, they come to MDC Wolfson's Chapman Center in downtown Miami to receive the Variety Virtuoso Award at Miami Film Festival GEMS — joined by the star of their latest film, musician and actor Guitarricadelafuente.

The 90-minute conversation is moderated by Ramin Setoodeh, Variety's Co-Editor in Chief, and will cover their Cannes-winning film La Bola Negra, their careers, and the creative process behind work that has consistently redefined what Spanish television and cinema can be. Tickets are available at the Miami Film Festival website.

Javier Calvo and Javier Ambrossi have been making work together for over a decade, but it was Veneno — their 2020 HBO Max series about the life of Cristina Ortiz, the Spanish trans icon known as La Veneno — that established them as two of the most important voices in contemporary European television. The New Yorker named it one of the best TV shows of 2020. It was tender, furious, formally inventive, and completely unlike anything else on television at the time.

They followed it with La Mesías — the first Spanish series to participate in the Sundance Film Festival, and one of the most celebrated and awarded series in Spain. Since 2021, they have also been fan-favorite judges on Drag Race España, where their warmth and genuine investment in the contestants has made them as beloved as the show itself.

Veneno was named one of the best TV shows of 2020 by The New Yorker. La Bola Negra won Best Director at Cannes 2026. Los Javis are on a run.

Their latest film, La Bola Negra, won Best Director at the 2026 Cannes Film Festival. The film is a sweeping, century-spanning tapestry of Spanish history — the story of three generations of men whose lives are bound together through desire, pain, and love. It screens at The Bill Cosford Cinema on Sunday, November 1 at 6:45 PM. Tickets for the screening are available separately at the Miami Film Festival website.

Guitarricadelafuente is a Spanish musician whose stage name fuses his surname, Lafuente, with the Aragonese diminutive for guitar. He first broke through with the song El Conticinio, which was later chosen for an Apple commercial directed by Spike Jonze and starring Pedro Pascal — a combination of collaborators that tells you something about the register he operates in. He has two albums: La Cantera and Spanish Leather. In La Bola Negra, he makes his acting debut as Sebastián, one of the film's central figures.

The Variety Virtuoso Award — In Conversation with Javier Ambrossi, Javier Calvo, and Guitarricadelafuente takes place on Wednesday, November 4 at 7:00 PM at MDC Wolfson's Chapman Center, 300 NE 2nd Ave, Miami, FL 33132. The conversation runs 90 minutes and is moderated by Ramin Setoodeh of Variety. Book tickets at miamifilmfestival.com.