SCAD Film Festival to Honor “La Bola Negra” Star Guitarricadelafuente with Discovery Award

SAVANNAH, GEORGIA (Oct. 1, 2026) — The Savannah College of Art and Design’s 29th annual SCAD Savannah Film Festival today announced that musician and actor Guitarricadelafuente will receive the Discovery Award, recognizing his debut film performance as Sebastián in La Bola Negra. Guitarricadelafuente will receive the award following the film’s screening on Saturday, Oct. 24, part of the festival’s opening day of events. The festival returns to university venues Oct. 24–31.

Guitarricadelafuente is a musician suspended between worlds. Raised in the early 2000s between the coastal town of Benicàssim and his grandmother’s village, Las Cuevas de Cañart, he grew up surrounded by rural folk and flamenco traditions. His stage name fuses his surname, Lafuente, with the Aragonese diminutive for guitar, guitarrica. He first gained attention with “El Conticinio” (2018), recorded on a PlayStation microphone. That same recording was later chosen for a 2025 Apple commercial directed by Spike Jonze and starring Pedro Pascal. Early hits “Guantanamera” and “Nana Triste” (with Natalia Lacunza) drew 59 million and 70 million streams, respectively, laying the foundation for his acclaimed 2022 debut album La Cantera. His second album, 2025’s Spanish Leather — with a cover shot by Wolfgang Tillmans — marked a bold evolution in his sound and visual language. La Bola Negra is his feature film debut.

Spanning nearly a century of Spanish history, La Bola Negra follows three generations of men whose lives are intimately connected through desire, pain, and love: Carlos (Milo Quifes), who longs to belong in a fractured Spain; Sebastián (Guitarricadelafuente), who finds connection across enemy lines; and Alberto (Carlos González), who uncovers a long-buried family secret. From Cannes Film Festival-winning directors Javier Calvo and Javier Ambrossi — popularly known as Los Javis — the film also stars Miguel Bernardeau, Goya Award winner Lola Dueñas, Academy Award winner Penélope Cruz, Golden Globe Award winner Glenn Close, and Emmy Award nominee Julio Torres.

Guitarricadelafuente joins previously announced honorees for this year’s festival, including Helen Mirren (Legend of Entertainment Award), Julianne Moore (Icon Award), and Patrice Vermette (Variety Creative Impact in Production Design Award).

Festival passes for 2026 are available now. Individual event tickets go on sale Friday, Oct. 2, and will be available online at filmfest.scad.edu, by phone at 912.525.5050, or in person at the SCAD Box Office (scadboxoffice.com) at 216 E. Broughton St. in Savannah.

ABOUT THE SCAD SAVANNAH FILM FESTIVAL

Presented by the Savannah College of Art and Design (SCAD), the SCAD Savannah Film Festival is filled with cinematic creativity from award-winning professionals and emerging student filmmakers. Each year, more than 74,000 people attend the eight-day festival. The festival has become a distinguished stop on the road to the Academy Awards, hosting exclusive screenings, competition films, feature films, documentaries, shorts, animated films, panel discussions, and workshops at SCAD’s historic theaters and industry-leading studio spaces. Presented in Savannah, a premier film hub in the Southeast, the festival promotes quality movies produced by independent and studio filmmakers.

Follow the festival on Facebook, Instagram, Letterboxd, and TikTok @savfilmfest. For additional information and tickets, visit filmfest.scad.edu.
 

SCAD: THE UNIVERSITY FOR CREATIVE CAREERS

SCAD is a private, nonprofit, accredited university, offering more than 100 graduate and undergraduate degree programs across locations in Atlanta and Savannah, Georgia; Lacoste, France; and online via SCADnow. SCAD enrolls more than 17,000 undergraduate and graduate students from more than 100 countries. The future-minded SCAD curriculum engages professional-level technology and myriad advanced learning resources, affording students opportunities for internships, professional certifications, and real-world assignments with corporate partners through SCADpro, the university’s renowned research lab and prototype generator. SCAD has earned top rankings for degree programs in interior design, architecture, film, fashion, digital media, and more. Career success is woven into every fiber of the university, resulting in a superior alumni employment rate. A 2026 study found that 99% of recent SCAD graduates were employed, pursuing further education, or both within 12 months of graduation. SCAD provides students and alumni with ongoing career support through personal coaching, alumni programs, a professional presentation studio, and more.
 

ABOUT THE SCAD SCHOOL OF FILM AND ACTING

With resources that rival Hollywood studios and Broadway theaters, award-winning faculty, professionally run casting offices, and renowned film and television festivals, the SCAD School of Film and Acting prepares students for impactful careers in film, television, and live performance. Students in acting, cinematography, editing, film and television, production design, sound design, and the school’s new music production and vocal performance degree programs work across disciplines on professional-caliber film and TV shoots and stage performances, gaining hands-on experience, production credits, and valuable industry connections before graduation.

The heart of the SCAD School of Film and Acting is the newly completed 11-acre SCAD Film Studios in Savannah, the largest and most comprehensive university film studio complex in higher education. Designed for professional and student productions, the complex includes purpose-built soundstages and an expansive Hollywood-style backlot with more than 50 façades and practical interiors that can be transformed for different locations and eras. Filmmakers in Savannah also have access to a leading-edge LED volume stage, as well as virtual production, postproduction, and extensive production and costume design facilities. Together with SCAD Film Studios in Atlanta — with its own state-of-the-art spaces, such as an LED volume stage, broadcast studios, and editing facilities — located amid one of the nation’s leading film and television production markets, these resources position students on the same sets and spaces they will lead throughout their careers. At SCAD, every set, stage, and studio is a classroom.

Each fall, the SCAD Savannah Film Festival welcomes celebrated filmmakers, actors, producers, and other industry leaders to Savannah, bringing national and international attention to filmmaking throughout the region and Georgia. During the festival’s weeklong lineup of screenings and panels, SCAD students enjoy myriad opportunities to connect with major stars in front of and behind the camera, including exclusive master classes and Q&A sessions.
 

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