by Luis Reyes

This morning Alfonso Cuaron took the spotlight as his film Roma (loosely based on his childhood) received ten Oscar nominations, inclulding Best Achievement in Directing, the Best Foreign Film and Best Picture nomination.

Known as one of the “three amigo” directors from Mexico, along with Alejandro G. Iñárritu (Birdman) and Guillermo del Toro (Shape of Water 2018) whose movies have each won then an Oscar for directing. However, Cuaron was the first Mexican and Hispanic to win an Academy Award for Best Achievement in Directing. This year, he might very likely add a third Oscar to his mantle for his work in Roma.

Cuaron has personally received five Oscar nominations for Roma; Best Achievement in Directing, Original Screenplay, Cinematography, Best Foreign Language Film and Best Picture.  Cuaron ties with legendary filmmakers Warren Beatty and Orson Welles for multiple category nominations for the same film.

Director Alfonso Cuaron and Yalitza Aparicio both nominated for an Oscar

Yalitza Aparicio, the unknown school teacher turned actress who portrays the indigenous Oaxacan maid in Roma is the first Indigenous or Native American actress from Mexico nominated for an Oscar and the first Mexican actress to score a nomination in the Best actress category since Salma Hayek for Frida. 

The mother in Roma, Marina de Tavira, a seasoned Mexican actress was nominated as Best Supporting Actress. De Tavira as the Mother had a more difficult role to interpret given sparse dialogue she used exquisite body language to convey in subtle and through a series of gestures and scenes, the turmoil she was going through in her loveless marriage which in turn affected the family dynamics. She did this without the benefit of traditional close-ups).                   

Strong complex portrayals of Latin women from different social strata anchor the film and mirror each other in their strength, vulnerability and interdependency.

The last time a Mexican actress was nominated in the supporting actress category was Adriana Barraza in Inarritu’s Babel in 2006 and before then in 1955 when Katy Jurado was nominated for Broken Lance.

In 1988 Argentine actress Norma Aleandro was nominated for playing a maid in Mexican filmmaker Luis Mandoki’s Gaby: A True Story and in 1961 Puerto Rican actress Rita Moreno won an Oscar as Best Supporting Actress for the classic West Side Story.

Roma also received Oscar nominations for Best Production Design, Best Sound Editing, Best Sound Mixing and Best Foreign Language film (Mexico) for a total of ten nominations. It is quite possible that Roma could win not only Best Foreign Language film but also the Best Picture category as well.  Roma marks a milestone in Oscar history in that for the past five years Mexican born filmmakers have dominated the Oscars in major categories.