Cuarón Tells Lubezki How He Filmed ‘Roma’ — Even One Quiet Shot Needed 45 Camera Positions

Alfonso Cuarón’s impressive black-and-white memoir of 1971 Mexico City, “Roma,” recognized as one of the year’s best by multiple critics groups, finally arrived on Netflix December 14.

Last Sunday on a packed soundstage at Raleigh Studios in Hollywood, the writer-director-cinematographer was grilled by his old film school buddy Emmanuel “Chivo” Lubezki, who collaborated on six films with Cuarón, including “Y Tu Mama Tambien,” “Children of Men” and “Gravity,” the movie that won them both Oscars.Three-time Oscar-winner Lubezki started to prep the film but when the “Roma” shooting schedule ballooned to over 108 shooting days, he was no longer able to commit to the schedule and Cuarón, who trained as a cinematographer, took on the task himself.

Lubezki asked his long-time collaborator to explain the many rules he broke while making a film that could earn him his first cinematography nomination, among other things.Here’s an edited version of the highlights.

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