Mexican director Alfonso Cuaron is not paranoid.

He has every right to feel persecuted.

Though his Mexican films have been embraced by audiences around the world and on his home turf, he has a fight on his hands each time he completes a movie.

The Mexican government has twice refused to release Cuaron's films.

It happened with his 1991 AIDS drama Love in the Time of Hysteria (Solo Con Tu Pareja) and it happened again last year with his critically acclaimed And Your Mother Too (Y Tu Mama Tambien).

Even though And Your Mother Too bested both No Man's Land and Amelie in the Golden Globe best foreign language category, the Mexican government refused to submit it as the country's official entry for an Oscar.

"They punished me because with my first movie, I refused to play the political game. They as much as told me, if I didn't play by their rules, I couldn't release that film."

The government followed through on its threat.

Cuaron then brought his movie to the 1990 Toronto Film Festival where it was presented as one of the galas.

"All these producers and agents wanted to represent me and the movie got released all over the world, except in Mexico where it was banned for three years."

Because Love in the Time of Hysteria was a major international hit, audiences in Mexico demanded it be shown.

"When it was finally released, it became a huge success in Mexico."

At the time, Cuaron was directing episodes of the American TV series Fallen Angels and such feature films as A Little Princess and Great Expectations.

Still, he longed to make another movie in Mexico, so he wrote and filmed And Your Mother Too, which opens Friday at the Uptown.

"Much to the annoyance of the government, the movie had amazing box office. It was a bigger hit than Planet of the Apes."

The Mexican censors asked Cuaron to trim some of the sex scenes in And Your Mother Too, a coming-of-age story of two teenagers.

"When the government refused to release the movie without major cuts, we sued them and won, so I wasn't surprised when they didn't submit us for Oscar consideration."

Cuaron hasn't lost all hope.

"We will be eligible this year for categories like screenwriting, acting and directing."

He is currently working on the screenplay for a sci-fi drama called The Children of Men.

"If I don't shoot it in Mexico, it will open there much faster."


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