[dropcap size=big]A[/dropcap]s Oscar Sunday approaches, Alfonso Cuarón will be walking into uncharted territory.
He’s already won two Oscars, and now the director has the opportunity to win the most single statuettes in a year for one film than anyone before him, for his acclaimed film Roma. Five of the ten Roma nominations in the 2019 Academy Awards have his name attached, highlighting just how deeply intertwined Cuarón is with his most personal film to date.
Is it likely that Cuarón will have a clean sweep? Probably not. But the fact that he’s reached this point is already an incredible accomplishment. In 1954, Walt Disney won four out of the six Oscars races for which he was nominated, but even those nominations were all for different films that he produced.
In the age of the #OscarsSoWhite backlash from recent years, it speaks volumes that a Mexican filmmaker is being recognized for his work, especially one so representative of people who have historically been marginalized in both countries – brown domestic workers.