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Alfonso Cuarón, Awarded the Insignia of Officer of the Order of Arts and Letters by the French Embassy in Mexico at the 24th FICM

Gustavo R. Gallardo

In recognition of his extraordinary contribution to contemporary cinema, the freedom and uniqueness of his vision, his ability to reinvent himself while remaining true to his own identity, and his success in bringing Mexican culture to audiences worldwide, film director Alfonso Cuarón was honored by the French Embassy in Mexico with the rank of Officer of the Order of Arts and Letters. The distinction was presented during the 24th edition of the Morelia International Film Festival (FICM).

The Mexican filmmaker—who is also a screenwriter and producer—attended the ceremony at the Centro Cultural Clavijero auditorium, accompanied by his son, Jonás Cuarón, and his brother, Carlos Cuarón. The event was attended by FICM president Alejandro Ramírez, vice president Cuauhtémoc Cárdenas, and the festival’s founder and director, Daniela Michel.

Delphine Borione, the French Ambassador to Mexico, described Alfonso Cuarón as “one of the greatest filmmakers of our time,” noting that his work has achieved a universal dimension and that his career has helped forge strong ties between Mexico and France.

Borione highlighted that this year marks two centuries of diplomatic relations between the two nations, adding, “What better way to commemorate this than through cinema, at the very heart of the Morelia International Film Festival?”

Cuarón is the director of films such as Great Expectations (1998); And Your Mother, Too (2001)—which earned an Oscar nomination for Best Original Screenplay at the 75th Academy Awards— Children of Men (2006); and Gravity (2013). The latter film won seven out of the 10 Academy Awards for which it was nominated, including Best Director, making Cuarón the first Latin American filmmaker to receive that honor. And, of course, Roma (2018), which was nominated for 10 Academy Awards, winning for Best Foreign Language Film, Best Cinematography, and Best Director.

“From that young assistant director on a French-Mexican film to the filmmaker we know today, there is a common thread: a perspective that has never ceased to search, to question, and to discover (…) And Your Mother, Too demonstrated this. Roma—that marvelous film—took it even further (…) Perhaps therein lies one of the great lessons his cinema offers us: to speak to the world, one must never stop being oneself,” the French ambassador remarked.

After receiving the medallion, Alfonso Cuarón delivered a speech in which he discussed the ties between Mexico and France—as well as his own personal connections to the country—and how French culture has significantly influenced his work.

“In my films, France appears sometimes as a nod, and at other times as a backdrop,” he said, citing works such as Roma and And Your Mother, Too. Cinema, he noted, “is not a narrative art, but a musical one—a rhythmic creation, an organic form with its own heartbeat, which provides a direct representation of time. I incorporated this from the very beginning.”

He then spoke of his 1983 short film, Quartet for the End of Time—described as “a work of faith and hope”—which was inspired by the novel A Man Asleep by Georges Perec. 

And to conclude his speech, he spoke about the current political situation in France: “We are living in turbulent times. France, in particular, is going through a moment of upheaval. French youth have raised their voices against the notion of living in Pangloss’s ‘best of all possible worlds,’ demanding change instead. I hope their voices are heard and not hijacked by opportunism. We may well be witnessing the end of an era, but I am also certain that we are at the beginning of a renewal. I cannot think otherwise. Allow me to express this using the words of Pascal Quignard—a writer I consider essential: ‘I do not believe that art can ever be negative. It ignores negation, just as it ignores time.’”