Filmmaker Alfonso Cuaron made history at Sunday’s Academy Awards, becoming Mexico’s first director to take home an Oscar for best foreign-language picture.
Alfonso Cuaron’s acclaimed memoir film Roma failed to win a best picture Oscar Sunday night but it walked away with three key awards, and perhaps more importantly, the movie has sparked a long overdue conversation in Mexico about classism and racism.
Roma, a semi-autobiographical black-and-white movie that centers on the struggles of Cuaron’s indigenous live-in nanny during the 1970s in Mexico City, won Oscars Sunday for best director, cinematography and foreign-language picture.
Going into the ceremony, Roma was seen as one of the presumptive frontrunners for best picture, but the evening’s most coveted award went to Green Book instead, a Peter Farrelly picture based on the true-life tale of a pianist’s interracial relationship with his driver.
Many were surprised to see Green Book crowned best picture, including BlacKkKlansman filmmaker Spike Lee, who later commented that “The ref made a bad call.”
