The news dropped like a bomb just before six in the afternoon last Tuesday. The Javises separate after 13 years of romantic relationship. In a few hours, countless media, some even international, echoed the exclusive by EL PAÍS journalist Andrea Jiménez on the tandem of filmmakers formed by Javier Ambrossi (Madrid, 41 years old) and Javier Calvo (Murcia, 34 years old), joint authors of one of the filmographies with the greatest and most consistent critical and commercial success of recent Spanish times. As news of the heart, its journey is inversely proportional to such an explosive reception: two adults end a relationship cordially, there is nothing left to say in the context of public interest.
As cultural news, however, it confronts us with the existence (and future) of Javis brand, the very personal imprint that the duo leaves in the works they create. Not because it is in danger: it is not, its immediate future is assured. In the same news story, Jiménez cites sources close to Ambrossi and Calvo as saying that the two “are working together better than ever,” referring to the feature film. The black ball, whose filming ended last week, “the best project of his career”. But, due to its size and potential, the Javis brand arouses great interest. In less than 15 years, and regardless of what the distant future holds, Ambrossi and Calvo have already generated a legacy: if there’s anything that justifies the effort of learning to work with an ex, perhaps this is it.
And there is a future. If every premiere to date has been a greater success than the previous one; In May the tandem announced a new project: The black ball feature film on the life and work of Federico García Lorca, inspired by The dark stone, of the Alberto Conejero National Theater Award. The cast suggests a further step forward in ambitions and, perhaps, interest in speaking the language of Hollywood: Penélope Cruz, Guitarricadelafuente, Glenn Close, Julio Torres (Saturday Night Live, Troublemaker) and emerging talent Carlos González (The short life, Mariliendre).
“I think one of the great talents of the Javis is to bring together wonderful teams. That’s how I feel about all the people who participate in this project,” says playwright Conejero, who collaborated with them for a year and a half in preparing the script (and adds: “The work was driven by nothing other than our common desire to make the best script possible. I felt a total harmony between the two of them at work”).
The first work of Ambrossi and Calvo, the musical The call, It remained on the bill for eleven years, from 2013 to 2024, from the theaters of the Lara theater in Madrid to several tours throughout Spain and one in Latin America. His first series, Paquita Salas (Flooxer and Netflix; 2016-2019), is one of the comedies that has had the greatest impact on audiences in the last decade: many of its dialogues today are real-life slang. Poison (Atresmedia; 2020) was named one of the best series of that year until The New Yorker. the messiah (Movistar+; 2023), an even greater critical success in Spain and its consecration as directors, is the only series to win six Feroz awards (all for which it was in competition). In the meantime they created their own studio, Suma Content, which employs hundreds of people and develops and publishes projects at full capacity.
Conejero isn’t the only one to point out that teamwork is a key pillar of this brand. “Working with Javier Ambrossi and Javier Calvo is opening the door to think from another place, to dare,” says screenwriter (and EL PAÍS columnist) Paloma Rando, who has worked with them several times over the past five years, including the script for the 2024 Goya gala, where Calvo and Ambrossi were presenters. “The new, the different, the difficult to achieve… Everything that many others consider uncomfortable for them is a stimulus, and they manage to spread that spirit to those around them. At the same time, they ensure that the trust and admiration they awaken in the people who work with them regularly are mutual. From that trust and affection, it is impossible not to feel a duty to protect the professional and personal climate they create.”
If anything characterizes Javis’ filmography, it is a spirit of collective authorship. On paper there shouldn’t be many links that unite Paquita Salas (a comedy starring a representative of actors in conflict with modern times) with, for example, the messiah (a dark family saga about faith and the durability of trauma). But they are sisters, like all the others, if only because they share the same ease in mixing seemingly irreconcilable genres, tones and sensibilities.
There is a good ear for catchy phrases, humour, nostalgia and complicity: only those who are very attentive to the road and the networks have it. But there’s also a deep understanding of how stories and characters work in literature, film and television – that only comes from a professional student and an avid reader. They are works that transcend the limit of a single personality. It works, in short, as a good tandem.
The half-dozen Suma Content contributors contacted for this article agree that it would be a mistake to attribute some specific traits to Ambrossi and others to Calvo, because, they say, the creative process is already almost symbiotic. And, they insist, it is equally open to the rest of the participants who make up each project. THE Javis brand It is supported as much by the creativity of its founders as by their ability to collaborate with others. For many, the latter means they are safe.
