Roundtable on the film “Roma” with the 2019 Roger Ebert Fellows

The 2018-19 University of Illinois College of Media Roger Ebert Fellows convened at Chicago Public Radio and WBEZ-FM to record a podcast review of Alfonso Cuaron's film Roma. Currently streaming on Netflix, Roma immerses viewers in a black-and-white cinematic memory of the Mexico City of Cuaron's childhood years.

The film, which received a limited theatrical release in order to qualify it for Academy Awards consideration, garnered 10 Oscar nominations Jan. 22, topping the year's achievements and tying The Favourite for most individual categories.

Last month, the 2018-19 U of I College of Media Roger Ebert Fellows met in Chicago to see Roma as too few moviegoers had the chance to experience it: on a 37-ft. wide screen, projected on film, at the historic Music Box Theatre. Immediately following the screening, the Fellows-- Eunice Alpasan, Pari Apostolakos and Curtis Cook -- reconvened at the Navy Pier studios of Chicago Public Radio and WBEZ-FM and recorded a podcast review of Roma Fellowship advisor and Chicago Tribune film critic Michael Phillips, who has been with the Ebert Fellowship since its inception four years ago, worked with the students along with members of the long-running Chicago Public Radio program Filmspotting.

Here's what they had to say about the most acclaimed drama of 2018.