El Espace is a column dedicated to news and culture relevant to Latinx communities. Expect politics, arts, analysis, personal essays and more. ¿Lo mejor? It’ll be in Spanish and English, so you can forward it to your tía, your primo Lalo or anyone else (read: everyone).

When Alfonso Cuarón took home the Oscar for best director on Sunday, he continued an almost uninterrupted winning streak by Mexican directors. Guillermo del Toro, Alejandro González Iñárritu and Cuarón, together known as “The Three Amigos” in Hollywood, have collected five director awards in the last six years, for “Gravity,” “Birdman,” “The Revenant,” “The Shape of Water” and now Cuarón’s “Roma,” which also won best foreign film. (In 2016, Damien Chazelle won for directing “La La Land.”)

“Roma,” based on Cuarón’s upbringing in Mexico City, broke ground by centering on an indigenous Mexican domestic worker, Cleo, played by first-time actress Yalitza Aparicio. Since the film’s release, Aparicio, who was the first woman of indigenous descent to be nominated in the best actress category, has been featured prominently in magazines and news outlets here and in Mexico. Her character has also ignited a national conversation in Mexico about racial and class discrimination, and fueled advocacy around workers’ rights. Cuarón teamed up with local organizations to throw huge public viewings of the Oscars in Mexico City.

In a post-awards news conference, Cuarón said that of all the movies he’s directed, “Roma” is the one he least expected to win. The film was shot in black and white, and the dialogue is in both Spanish and a native Mixteco language, and lacks the “big speeches and big stars” that Cuarón said make for “Oscar bait.” “Gravity,” his 2013 film co-starring Sandra Bullock and George Clooney, was a more predictable Academy pick.