Mapping Roma

Roma (2018) is a film about space and memory.Its very name -never directly mentioned throughout 135-minute runtime -refers to a neighbourhood in Mexico City where director Alfonso Cuarn grew up and where much of the plot unfolds.To this end, the film treads the tightly wound lines of representation, memory and location through its recreation of remembered places.This narrative exploration of memory and space extends to its production and promotion.Indeed, the locations in this film are meticulously reconstructed and, where possible, filmed on site.For instance, all external shots of the "home" location are shot on the very street Cuarn grew up, facing his actual childhood home.In another location production design recreated the interior with 70% of the furniture original (sourced far and wide from family) and the remaining items reconstructed to specifications, based on photos and descriptions provided by the director.[1] To complement this approach, Cuarn -who also served as cinematographer -shot the feature in 4k digital photography with an extra wide (2:39:1) aspect ratio.He explains, "I realized this movie is honoring real-time and space, and here we would have a larger scope in which the characters could flow.I wanted to shoot very wide, and balance foreground and Frames Cinema Journal, Issue 22 (2025)