Alfonso Cuaron Selected for Palm Springs Film Festival Honor

By Dave McNary

LOS ANGELES (Variety.com) – The Palm Springs International Film Festival will present director Alfonso Cuarón with the Sonny Bono Visionary Award for his work on “Roma.”

The honor will be presented at the festival’s awards gala on Jan. 3 at the Palm Springs Convention Center. The festival is in its 30th year and runs from Jan. 3 to Jan. 14.

“Alfonso Cuarón’s latest feature, ‘,’ is a masterful achievement in filmmaking,” said festival chairman Harold Matzner. “Drawing upon his childhood memories, Cuarón has created an emotionally driven story about a family growing up in 1970s Mexico City. A film he not only directed, but also was a writer, producer, cinematographer and editor. For his ability to take on many roles and for his expert storytelling of this subject matter, the festival is proud to present Alfonso Cuarón with the Sonny Bono Visionary Award.”

The award is named after the festival’s founder and former Palm Springs mayor, and is awarded to a filmmaker who breaks boundaries in the work.

Roma” follows a live-in maid, played by Yalitza Aparicio, who works for a family in Mexico City’s middleclass Roma neighborhood. Cuarón draws on his own childhood to portray domestic strife and social hierarchy amidst Mexico’s political turmoil of the 1970s.

Produced by Esperanto Filmoj and Participant Media, “Roma” will launch globally on Netflix as well as theatrically in December.

Cuarón won Oscars for directing and editing the drama “Gravity.” He made his feature film directorial debut with “Sólo con Tu Pareja” and his American feature film debut with “A Little Princess.” His other credits include “Great Expectations,” “Y Tu Mamá También,” “Harry Potter and the Prisoner of
Azkaban,” and “Children of Men.”