Mexican director Alfonso Cuaron won Saturday the award from the union of American directors, considered a barometer for the Oscars, for his film Roma .
He defeated Spike Lee ( BlacKkKlansman ), Adam Mckay ( Vice ), Peter Farrelly ( Green Book ) and Bradley Cooper ( A Star is Born ).
Shot in Spanish and black and white, Roma , an almost autobiographical film inspired by Cuaron’s childhood in Mexico City, is nominated in 10 categories, including best film and best director, for the Oscars in three weeks.
Roma has already been awarded at the Venice Film Festival, where he received the Golden Lion. He also received the Critics’Choice Awards and was awarded the Golden Globes.
The Mexican director received Saturday the prize from his compatriot Guillermo del Toro who won the Directors Guild of America (DGA) award last year for The Shape of Water . He had then won the Oscar for Best Picture and Best Director.
Alfonso Cuaron had already won the DGA prize in 2014 for Gravity .
Receiving his prize, he thanked the actors of his film Yalitza Aparicio and Marina de Tariva. “Thanks to Limbo [the servant employed by his family when he was young], to my mother and my country, the real architect of Roma, ” he said.
Alfonso Cuaron is the second director to win the Directors Union Award for a film in a foreign language. Taiwanese director Ang Lee was honored in 2000 for Tiger and Dragon .