A young woman scrubbing a tile floor, a man driving away from home in a VW bug, kids playing in the forest, a line of police in riot gear standing next to a group of student protestors, a woman bathing in the ocean, and a crowd running away from gunfire – these are all images from Alfonso Cuarón‘s highly anticipated new film Roma. It’s his first Mexico-set movie in 17 years; and in the first full teaser released this morning, we finally get a look at the faces and places that populate this drama.
It’s said to be his most personal project yet, one that’s not autobiographical, but inspired by his memories of growing up in Mexico City in the ’60s and ’70s. It was a turbulent time, marked by the deaths of student protestors at the hands of the government and paramilitaries. Set in Roma, a quiet middle-class neighborhood in the otherwise bustling, noisy metropolis, the story follows two indigenous Mixteca women who work as maids for a family with four kids.
Shot in black and white, the teaser gives us a glimpse at emotional turmoil the characters personally face and the political violence that has gripped the country. In the almost two-minute clip, we also see the stark inequality between where the domestic workers come from and where the family who employs them lives.
Roma will play in theaters and have a global release on Netflix later this year.