Alfonso Cuaron's black-and-white Mexico-set period drama Roma not just made it as the Best Foreign Language Film Award, but also won the Best Director - Motion Picture honour at the 76th Golden Globe Awards in Los Angeles.
At the ceremony on Sunday, Alfonso received rousing applause for the honours, and he thanked his film's producers as well as Netflix for "bringing this very unlikely film into the mainstream awareness". "I feel a little bit like cheating accepting this award because most of what I was doing was just to witness and enjoy these actors who just exist on the screen," he said, lauding his two leads Yalitza Aparicio and Marina de Tavira.
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The film is a personal story and takes a leaf out of Cuaron's own youth in 1970s' Mexico, where he grew up among strong women -- not just his mother, but also a nanny named Libo.
"Another part of me is telling me that in reality, this film was directed by Libo, by my mother and my family, and maybe even more importantly, by this place, this very complex land, that shaped and created me," said Cuaron, saluting his home country of Mexico. He said the nation introduced him to "the amazing colours that made me who I am."
Earlier, while receiving the Best Foreign Language Film honour, for which he beat Lebanon's Capernaum, Belgium's Girl, Germany's Never Look Away and Japan's Shoplifters, Cuaron spoke of how cinema is crossing over.
"As we cross these bridges, these new experiences, new shapes and faces, we begin to realise that while they may be strange, they are not unfamiliar. We begin to understand exactly how much we have in common," Cuaron added.
For the Best Director honour, Cuaron pipped nominees Bradley Cooper for A Star Is Born, Peter Farrelly for Green Book, Spike Lee for BlacKkKlansman and Adam McKay for Vice.
Roma was ineligible for a Best Picture nod because the category is reserved "exclusively for English-language motion pictures", according to The Hollywood Reporter.
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