Netflix enlists big guns for Oscar

Angelina Jolie is acting as Netflix s champion for Alfonso Cuaron s Roma. Photo / Getty Images

It looks like an underdog tale: A foreign-language film with an unknown cast taking the Oscar nominations by storm.

But behind Roma lies a $25 million ($36.5m) campaign by Netflix, the US streaming giant, enlisting Angelina Jolie as the film's Hollywood champion.

Netflix has its eye on the best picture Oscar, one of 10 nominations for Alfonso Cuaron's black and white film about a domestic worker in 1970s Mexico City.

Its campaign is the most expensive of the Oscar season and dwarfs the US$15m it cost to make the film.

Academy voters have been showered with promotional material, including a 200-page coffee-table book and handmade chocolates. Netflix bought a US$170,000 ad spot during CBS morning news, as well as print and digital ads.

Jolie hosted a "tastemakers" screening and cocktail party in Hollywood. She heaped praise on the cast and posed with Yalitza Aparicio and Marina de Tavira, later nominated for leading actress and supporting actress respectively.

To an industry in which many view Netflix as an interloper, the backing of A-list names is important. Jolie is a supporter, having released her last documentary on the platform. Charlize Theron hosted a screening at the Chateau Marmont hotel in Los Angeles.

Roma opened on only a handful of screens, and for a limited period, to qualify for the awards. Netflix has not released viewing figures.

While the critics swooned, it's hard to gauge whether the film is a hit or a flop with audiences because of the lack of feedback.