This fall, Oscar-winning director Alfonso Cuaron will return to the big screen with ROMA, his first film in four years.
Filmed in black and white, ROMA chronicles domestic strife amid political turmoil in 1970s Mexico City.
Unlike Cuaron’s last film, Gravity, led by Sandra Bullock and George Clooney, ROMA features a relatively unknown cast. Yalitza Aparicio stars as Cleo, a young domestic worker caring for a middle-class family. Mexican actress Marina de Tavira (Falco, The Lord of the Skies) plays the family matriarch as she deals with the extended absence of her husband and the political unrest that lies outside her front door.
The characters grapple with race and class issues that affect life in the city, particularly for people of Mixtec descent.
Cuaron has called the film “incredibly personal,” drawing from his childhood in 1970s Mexico City and the women who shaped his youth.
Netflix will distribute the film on its streaming service and in select theaters this fall, although an official release date for the film has yet to be announced.
ROMA will premiere at the Venice Film Festival before screenings at the San Sebastian Festival and the Toronto Film Festival and will serve as the centerpiece for the New York Film Festival in October.
