Variety will present Guitarricadelafuente with the Virtuoso Award and Javier Calvo and Javier Ambrossi (known as Los Javis) with the Visionary Director Award at Miami Dade College’s Miami Film Festival Gems on Wednesday, Nov. 4. The event will take place at the Wolfson Auditorium at 7:00 p.m.
Guitarricadelafuente will be honored for his breakout performance in Netflix’s upcoming film “La Bola Negra.” Calvo and Ambrossi, the film’s directors, will be honored for their visionary work on the film, set to release in select theaters on Oct. 16 before premiering on Netflix on Dec. 2. The 13th Miami Film Festival Gems is scheduled Oct. 29 – Nov. 5, and will continue its tradition of celebrating this year’s top films and award contenders.
Guitarricadelafuente, Calvo and Ambrossi will participate in a Q&A about their work with Variety co-president and co-editor-in-chief Ramin Setoodeh.
“From the moment I saw ‘La Bola Negra’ at Cannes — where it was honored with a thunderous 20-minute standing ovation — I knew it was a monumental work of art,” Setoodeh said. “We are thrilled to honor Guitarricadelafuente for his star-is-born performance as the heartsick soldier Sebastián, as well as Javier Calvo and Javier Ambrossi, the brilliant team of directors behind the film.”
Beginning his career as a musician, the Barcelona-based Guitarricadelafuente has released two albums, “La Cantera” in 2022 and “Spanish Leather” in 2025, and has been nominated for two Latin Grammy awards. He makes his acting debut as Sebastián in “La Bola Negra.” Guitarricadelafuente’s original song featured in the film, “La Nieve,” is now available to stream.
Calvo and Ambrossi directed, co-wrote and produced “La Bola Negra,” having previously created the series “Veneno” and “La Mesías.” They won the best director award at Cannes, and the film has gone on to win the People’s Choice Award at the Toronto International Film Festival and the Audience Award at the San Sebastián Film Festival.
“Miami has always been a champion of Spanish cinema and a home for bold new voices, and few artists embody the fire and fearlessness we’re drawn to as vividly as Los Javis and Guitarricadelafuente,” said Lauren Cohen, Director of Programming. “Javier Calvo and Javier Ambrossi have a singular gift for telling intimate, emotional stories on a grand scale, and Guitarricadelafuente brings a soulful magnetism to both his music and his film debut. We are thrilled to bring them together for a conversation with our audience and to honor them at Gems.”