Alfonso Cuarón's 'Roma' premieres at Venice Film Festival amid Netflix controversy

Alfonso Cuarón's film 'Roma' premiered at the 2018 Venice Film Festival, receiving strong applause and emotional reactions from the press. The black-and-white film, set in Mexico City's Roma neighborhood, is a semi-autobiographical story based on Cuarón's childhood memories. It follows Cleo (Yalitza Aparicio), a Mixteca domestic worker, and her colleague Adela (Nancy García García) as they serve a middle-class family led by Sofia (Marina de Tavira) in 1971. Cuarón wrote, directed, and served as cinematographer. The film's inclusion at Venice came after Cannes' strict stance against Netflix, which distributes 'Roma'. Cuarón addressed the controversy, stating, 'When was the last time you saw a Bergman film? What matters is not where you see the film but that you see the film.' He described the project as 'a homage to a scar from the past but with the eyes of the present.' Water is a recurring motif, appearing in his earlier works like 'Children of Men', 'Gravity', and 'Y Tu Mamá También'. The film is described as essential, penetrating, and fatalistic, exploring memory, strong women, and a universal matriarchal family.