DP Galo Olivares Shot ‘Roma,’ But Alfonso Cuaron Won the Cinematography Oscar?

In his previous films, Cuaron teamed up with DP extraordinaire Emmanuel Lubezki, but not on “Roma.” Lubezki had, in the last minute, left the project due to a scheduling conflict.

Cuaron definitely directed 2018’s “Roma,” but he was also peculiarly credited as the cinematographer as well. Why peculiarly? Well, because a DP by the name of Galo Olivares is said to have actually shot the film. He ended up just getting a “collaborating cinematographer” credit.

An Instagram story started to make the rounds today. In it, the poster writes: “Remember when Galo Olivares DP’ed “Roma,” he was credited as DP on all 108 days of production, but then Cuaron took the credit.”

A “Roma” call sheet clearly stated that Olivares was the DP. So, why did Cuaron not only take all the credit, but actually win the Cinematography Oscar for Olivares’ work? Why did nobody investigate this?

During his Oscar speech, Cuaron thanked the producer, but never mentioned Galo Olivares’ name. If Olivares' had gotten proper credit then he’d right now be getting more work in the industry.

It’s not like the media has originally hidden Olivares’ DP status on “Roma.” Outlets such as IndieWire and The Film Stage had reported on his creative collaboration with Cuaron on the film. But now, he gets no credit whatsoever, his name does not appear anywhere on the film’s Wikipedia page.

As I looked further into this strange story, I learned that Olivares signed an NDA during production of “Roma” and couldn’t comment on any story about this. A source that worked on the film tells me, “Galo was literally not allowed to operate the camera at all, even while he was DP of the whole production”.

Back in 2019, American Cinematographer had briefly mentioned Olivares in a piece about Roma’s cinematography:

Galo Olivares operated the A camera, while Cuarón was responsible for the actors, for setting the camera angles and movements, for the look, and for controlling the aperture. Cuarón stood by his calibrated Flanders Scientific CM250 monitor when they were rolling. “Galo is a DoP in his own right, and a great camera operator,” the director says. “It was a privilege to have a young, fresh eye near me. Sometimes he would look at me and say, ‘Are you sure you don’t want a negative fill?’ And I would say, ‘You’re right — negative fill.’”

One can also point out that this goes to a larger conversation about who really is “shooting” a film. Yes, some directors just let the DP make all the decisions but others have a very hands-on approach with the cinematography to a point that one could argue they could be considered the cinematographer.

Cuaron is an exceptional filmmaker, with a formidable filmography that includes “Children of Men,” “Y Tu Mama Tambien” and “Gravity,” But it’s be nice to get more concrete answers about how the creative process went down on “Roma.”