Roma wins Bafta glory in advance for Netflix
Netflix black-and-white production Roma triumphed at the Bafta film awards on Sunday, boosting Oscar hopes for the US streaming giant despite concerns its business model undermines the film industry.
The cinematic love letter to director Alfonso Cuaron’s childhood in Mexico City in the 1970s edged out black comedy The Favourite for best film and best director.
“I’m seriously touched this film has been received the way it’s been received,” Cuaron said at a star-studded ceremony in London’s Royal Albert Hall that was also attended by Prince William and his wife Kate, the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge.
Cuaron thanked Netflix for “having the courage” to get behind Roma as he picked up the gong on stage.
The success of the film “in an age where fear and anger are proposed to divide us means the world to me”, he said.
Netflix UK tweeted its congratulations, saying it was a “deeply moving film and deserves all the love it’s getting”.
The film portrays domestic strife and social hierarchy amid political turmoil and focuses on a housekeeper and nanny called Cleo, played by indigenous actress Yalitza Aparicio.
Roma dented expectations of a clean sweep by The Favourite, which picked up best actress for Olivia Colman as Queen Anne and best supporting actress for Rachel Weisz playing her confidante and lover.
The film, about a cantankerous 18th-century British queen and her scheming court, had been nominated for 12 awards and picked up seven on the night.
“She doesn’t take herself too seriously and she enjoys what she’s doing,” Greek director Yorgos Lanthimos said of Colman.
Colman, 45, was up against Glenn Close (The Wife) and Lady Gaga (A Star Is Born) — the same power duo she will face at the Oscars on Feb 24.
Weisz won out against co-star Emma Stone who was nominated in the same category.
Weisz and Stone are also in the running for Oscars in a proud year for the British film industry.
Roma is also nominated for best picture at the Oscars later this month, the first-ever nomination for Netflix, which has propelled it into the Hollywood club of elite filmmakers.
While it has progressively been welcomed at most major film festivals, Netflix still finds that Tinseltown’s red carpet is not fully rolled out — with theatres up in arms about its position as a distribution king and A-list content provider.
After the Oscar nominations came out, mega-theatre chains AMC and Regal — by far the top two in the business in America — announced that Roma would not be screened in their annual best-picture showcases.
In all, Roma was shown in roughly 900 theatres around the world — more than any other Netflix film, but far short of the norm for a usual wide release. Netflix never released any box office data.
While Netflix has made some goodfaith efforts to gain Hollywood’s acceptance, it did so while only making minor concessions — and no changes to its business model.
It only waited three weeks after the release of Roma in theatres to put it up on its platform, far less than the 90 days that cinema owners ask studios to hold back.