Alfonso Cuaron took home the Oscar for best director at the 91st Academy Awards for “Roma” on Sunday night. Cuaron thanked undocumented workers without work rights and the country of Mexico while accepting the award.
“I want to thank the Academy for recognizing a film centered around an indigenous woman. One of the 70 million domestic workers in the world without work rights. A character that has been historically relegated in the backgrounds in cinema,” Cuaron said.
Cuaron continued: “As artists, our job is to look where other’s don’t. This responsibility becomes much more important in times when we have been encouraged to look away ”
Cuaron was nominated for best director alongside Spike Lee for “BlacKkKlansman,” Paweł Pawlikowski for “Cold War,” Yorgos Lanthimos for “The Favourite” and Adam McKay for “Vice.”
Last year’s winner for best director Guillermo del Toro (“The Shape of Water”) announced the winner. Cuaron accepted the award and began by quickly thanking the two lead female actresses in his film.
“I want to thank so many people. Obviously Yalitza Aparicio and Marina de Tavira. They are the whole film,” Cuaron said.
Cuaron continued by thanking the producers Gabriela Rodriguez and Nicolás Celis, Participant Media, ID PR, Netflix and fellow Mexican directors Guillermo del Toro and Alejandro González Inárritu.
Cuaron finished by speaking in his native Spanish, thanking the country of Mexico and his family.
The win was the second for Cuaron, who in 2014 won for his work on “Gravity.” Cuaron’s win marked the third Oscar for “Roma,” which also won for cinematography and best foreign-language film.
Watch the speech below.
“I want to thank the Academy for recognizing a film centered around an indigenous woman, one of the 70 million domestic workers in the world without work rights,” Alfonso Cuarón says. “As artists, our job is to look where others don’t.” #Oscars https://t.co/XQU450bcno pic.twitter.com/HDCKd0LzPG
— Good Morning America (@GMA) February 25, 2019
