Roma wins Venice Film Festival’s Golden Lion
Labels: Roma, Venice FilmRoma won the Golden Lion, the top prize at the 75th Venice International Film Festival. The win gave Netflix a major, highly visible launch point for an Oscars-focused campaign.
Roma won the Golden Lion, the top prize at the 75th Venice International Film Festival. The win gave Netflix a major, highly visible launch point for an Oscars-focused campaign.
After strong festival buzz, Netflix began treating Roma as a top-tier prestige release rather than a typical streaming debut. The campaign signaled a bigger strategic goal: proving Netflix could compete for the film industry’s most traditional honors.
Netflix opened Roma in select U.S. theaters, a move tied to Oscars eligibility and to reaching traditional filmgoers. This was part of Netflix’s broader push to show it could support a serious theatrical-and-awards pathway for originals.
Roma became widely available to subscribers on Netflix, combining mass access with an ongoing prestige rollout in theaters. The day-and-date approach tested whether a streaming release could still build momentum with awards voters.
At the Golden Globes, Roma won Best Motion Picture (Foreign Language), reinforcing that Netflix’s campaign was working with major industry groups. The win helped set expectations that Roma would be a leading Oscars contender.
Oscar nominations were announced with Roma earning 10 nominations, including Best Picture and Best Director. This was a major benchmark for Netflix, showing that a streaming-led studio could land a top-tier Best Picture nominee.
At the BAFTAs, Roma won Film Not in the English Language, strengthening its international-prestige narrative. The result also showed Netflix could compete in the traditional pre-Oscars awards circuit beyond the U.S.
At the 91st Academy Awards, Roma won Best Director and Best Cinematography for Alfonso Cuarón and won Best Foreign Language Film. However, it did not win Best Picture, keeping the question open about how far Netflix could go in the Academy’s top category.
After Roma, Netflix expanded its awards strategy from one flagship film to a wider lineup of prestige titles. The approach aimed to build a more durable studio-like presence with voters, rather than relying on a single breakout.
For the 92nd Academy Awards, Netflix’s films earned 24 nominations—more than any other studio that year—led by The Irishman and Marriage Story in Best Picture. This scale marked a new phase: Netflix was campaigning as a full awards-season competitor, not an outsider.
The 92nd Academy Awards ceremony took place on February 9, 2020, concluding the 2019–2020 awards season. Despite leading in nominations, Netflix’s biggest films did not dominate the night, highlighting the gap between nominations strength and top-category wins.
Netflix won Best Supporting Actress for Laura Dern (Marriage Story) and Best Documentary Feature for American Factory. The results gave Netflix high-profile wins, but also underscored that its biggest Best Picture pushes—especially The Irishman—could still end up empty-handed.
Netflix awards campaigns from Roma through the 2020 Oscars (2018–2020)