‘La Bola Negra’ Star Guitarricadelafuente to Receive Discovery Award at SCAD Savannah Film Festival (EXCLUSIVE)

Spanish singer-songwriter Álvaro Lafuente, who performs under the name Guitarricadelafuente, will receive the Discovery Award at this year's SCAD Savannah Film Festival. The honor recognizes his first major big-screen role in the acclaimed film La Bola Negra, where the 29-year-old plays Sebastián, a Spanish Civil War soldier stationed at a hospital who begins a romance with a wounded prisoner, played by Miguel Bernardeau. His performance has already fueled Oscar buzz, marking a notable leap from the recording studio to serious cinema.

The award ceremony will follow a screening of La Bola Negra on October 24, during a festival that runs from October 24 to 31 and is organized by the Savannah College of Art and Design. Directed by Javier Calvo and Javier Ambrossi, the duo known as Los Javis, the film weaves together three narratives about queer men across nearly a century of Spanish history. Alongside Guitarricadelafuente's storyline, Milo Quife appears as Carlos, a man expelled from a Granada social club in 1932 over his sexuality, while Carlos González plays Albert, a 2017 historian who stumbles upon family secrets after his grandfather's death. The cast also includes Lola Dueñas, Penélope Cruz, Glenn Close, and Julio Torres. Los Javis previously earned widespread praise in Spain for the series Veneno, which likewise explored LGBTQ+ lives in the country, and this film continues their focus on queer stories from the past.

Guitarricadelafuente's music career began in 2018 with El Conticinio, a track he recorded on a PlayStation microphone—a humble start that led to unexpected opportunities, including the song's selection for a 2025 Apple commercial directed by Spike Jonze and featuring Pedro Pascal. His early singles Guantanamera and Nana Triste, the latter with Natalia Lacunza, have drawn 59 million and 70 million streams respectively. He released his debut album La Cantera in 2022 and followed it with Spanish Leather in 2025, whose cover art was created by Wolfgang Tillmans. His original song La Nieve from La Bola Negra is now streaming, tying his musical and acting work together. As one industry observer noted, this kind of crossover success reflects a wider trend of artists leveraging digital platforms to build multifaceted careers.

La Bola Negra has already picked up major prizes, including the People's Choice Award at the Toronto International Film Festival, the Audience Award at the San Sebastián Film Festival, and the best director honor at Cannes for Calvo and Ambrossi. The film opens in limited release on October 16, before expanding and arriving on Netflix on December 2. At the SCAD festival, Guitarricadelafuente will join a roster of distinguished honorees, among them Helen Mirren, who will receive the Legend of Entertainment Award, Julianne Moore with the Icon Award, and Patrice Vermette with the Variety Creative Impact in Production Design Award. The lineup underscores the festival's dual mission of celebrating both emerging talents and established figures in entertainment.