Alfonso Cuarón’s ‘Roma’ to be screened at Los Pinos

Alfonso Cuaron’s critically acclaimed film Roma is set to show in one of Mexico’s most exclusive venues

, completely free of cost, taking over the once-private screening room of the palatial presidential residence, which President Andrés Manuel López Obrador has opened to the public.

This morning, through his official account, Alfonso Cuarón tweeted: “Los Pinos is now added to the list of places that will screen ROMA! This makes 97 movie theaters in the country !”

Cuarón has strongly criticized the limited reception of Mexican movie theaters to screen the movie Roma , which will now be the first film to be screened at the mansion that the new Mexican president decided to left unoccupied and turn into a cultural center.

Los Pinos has a private movie theater which, according to the military police that used to guard the premises, was used for the entertainment and work of the President and his team. It is equipped with 35 leather recliners .

Winner of the Gold Lion for best picture , Roma will have its world premiere on December 14 through the streaming platform Netflix , though the director has emphasized that the movie is still “available for any movie theater that wishes to screen it.”

Cuarón recently regretted the apparent disinterest of Mexican movie theaters to screen his latest work, which was nominated to the Spirit Awards for independent cinema , and is now set to represent Mexico at the Academy and Goya awards .

In November, Cuaron complained his film was being shown on more screens in Poland and South Korea than his home country of Mexico, though the number has grown since.

As a response, Cinépolis , one of the two largest movie theaters chains in Mexico, invited Netflix to postpone the premiere of Roma on their platform “to respect the traditional exhibition window in movie theaters.”

Unfortunately, ‘Roma’ was sold to Netflix, whose business model has not yet taken into account movie theater screenings.

Critically acclaimed, the movie honors the name of the neighborhood where Cuarón grew up in Mexico City. The film was dedicated to Libo, his babysitter.

On December 7, Mexico's Ministry of Culture tweeted the details of the screening, organized by the Ministry and the production team of Roma : "Due to the great interest of the Mexican people in attending the free screening of Roma at the Cultural Center of Los Pinos , we announce that the long-feature film will be screened on Thursday , December 13 , at 19:00 hours , at the Presidential Heliport Garden . The Ministry of Culture and the production team of Roma will offer sleeping mats [...], punch, and popcorn. The entry will be free, with a maximum capacity of 3,000 people . Access will start at 17:30 hours through Gate 4 , located on Alencastre Avenue ."

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