A film crew working on director Alfonso Cuarón’s latest movie say they have been assaulted and robbed while filming on a street in downtown Mexico City.



In a letter reported by Deadline, the production team said they were working with official permits from the city’s film commission when they were assaulted. Cuarón was not on the set at the time.

“It was not a ‘simple fight’ like the authorities have reported,” the letter read. “[I]t was assault and there were people injured: two women were hit; five of our crew members were taken to the hospital; and phones, wallets and jewellery were stolen.

“After we filed the complaint, the response of the district was immediate and positive. We hope that the district authorities will keep their promise and help compensate for the stolen items, as well as bringing those responsible to justice.”

According to El País, who have obtained a video purporting to show the altercation, the city’s police department denied the crew had been robbed but the state prosecutor confirmed that some of the crew had been stripped of their personal belongings. The crew has filed a complaint with authorities.

Cuarón, who won the best director Oscar in 2014 for his film Gravity, is making his first film in Mexico in 15 years. No title has been announced, but Participant media says the movie is about “a year in the life of a middle-class family in Mexico City in the early 1970s”.