Spain has made its call. On Wednesday, the Academia de Cine confirmed that "La Bola Negra," from directing duo Javier Calvo and Javier Ambrossi, will represent the country in the Best International Feature Film race at the 99th Academy Awards.

The announcement came from Alejandro Amenábar, whose own "The Sea Inside" was the last Spanish film to win the category, back in 2005. He opened the envelope at the Academia's Madrid headquarters after a second round of voting among members. Two heavyweight rivals fell by the wayside: Rodrigo Sorogoyen's "The Beloved," fronted by Javier Bardem, and Alauda Ruiz de Azúa's "Sundays," a Goya and San Sebastián winner. Both had made the Sept. 3 shortlist alongside "La Bola Negra." Variety called it the strongest Spanish shortlist in memory. Nobody in Madrid seemed particularly shocked by who won.

"La Bola Negra" arrived at Cannes in May and left with a lot of noise attached to it. It played in Competition, drew a standing ovation that Variety clocked at 16 minutes and Deadline put at 20, and picked up the festival's Best Director prize, shared with Paweł Pawlikowski for "Fatherland." The exact runtime of the applause is disputed. The result wasn't.

The film braids three timelines, 1932, 1937 and 2017, tracing queer Spanish history through a novel fragment left unfinished by Federico García Lorca, the poet killed by Franco's forces in 1936. Penélope Cruz plays a cabaret dancer in an extended, flamboyant cameo. Glenn Close shows up as a present-day hispanist. Lead roles go to Guitarricadelafuente, Miguel Bernardeau, Milo Quifes and Carlos González. Ambrossi told Variety ahead of the premiere that the plan from the start was a big, auteur-driven production that was also unmistakably queer.

Netflix bought U.S. And Canadian rights in a bidding war, in a deal Deadline described as a record seven-figure domestic acquisition. The streamer will put the film in American theatres on Oct. 16 for a 47-day run, the longest theatrical window Netflix has ever given a title, which tells you where it sits on the studio's awards priority list this year.

The film has already sold across most of the world, including to Impact Films for India. It's booked for San Sebastián's Spanish premiere on Saturday, where tickets have reportedly become hard to find, and it screens at Toronto and New York's NewFest before the Oscar calendar takes over.

That calendar now runs on fixed dates. The Academy names its international feature shortlist on Dec. 15, nominations follow on Jan. 21, and the 99th Academy Awards happen March 14 in Los Angeles. Spain has entered its strongest hand in years. Whether the Academy's voters agree is the only question left.