Alfonso Cuarón’s newest movie, Roma, has won the Golden Lion at the Venice Film Festival and is a frontrunner for Mexico at the next Academy Awards. Netflix has just released this critically-acclaimed story all over the world on 14 December.
Roma was both written and directed by Oscar-winning director Alfonso Cuarón. Image courtesy of Netflix
Cuarón didn’t just direct Roma, he wrote it as well, basing it off of his personal experience and the neighbourhood where he grew up – the Colonia Roma, in Mexico City. The story of the upper-class family, their four children and their nanny that Roma tells is laced with Cuarón’s personal life and memories of the Colonia Roma neighbourhood.
The Rio de Janeiro plaza, with its replica of Michelangelo’s David, is the symbol of the Colonia Roma. Image by fitopardo/Getty Images
In the Seventies, the decade Roma is set in, the Colonia Roma was the place where wealthy families still lived. Then the neighbourhood fell into abandonment and disrepair, especially after the 1985 earthquake. Today, “la Roma” is blooming again, like New York City’s Brooklyn and Paris’ Marais, with a distinct hipster vibe. It’s divided into Roma Norte and Roma Sur, and it’s the residence of a lot of expats from the United States, the rest of South America and Europe.
Alfonso Cuarón on the set of Roma with the movie’s protagonist, Yalitza Aparicio. Image courtesy of Netflix
While the main set of the family’s house was built from scratch, all other locations you see in the movie are actual, real places in La Roma. If you happen to wander around its streets, don’t forget to drop by the Tonalá movie theatre, where Alfonso Cuarón is said to have hosted a special and secret premiere of Roma before it dropped on Netflix. And if you’d like to expand your visit to the seaside, you can visit Veracruz, some four hours east of Mexico City, where one of Roma’s most powerful scenes takes place.
Veracruz is one of the main cities on the Gulf of Mexico and its port one of the oldest. Image by fitopardo/Getty Images
You can see the trailer for the movie down here, and find it on Netflix or in selected cinemas around the world.
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