At once blistering and poetic, the ravages of colonialism cast a dark shadow over the South American landscape in EMBRACE OF THE SERPENT, the third feature by Ciro Guerra and the first film shot in the Amazonian rainforest in over 30 years. Filmed in stunning black-and-white, the film centers on Karamakate (portrayed in various stages by Nilbio Torres and Antonio Bolívar Salvado), an Amazonian shaman and the last survivor of his people, and the two scientists (Evan and Theo, portrayed by Brionne Davis and Jan Bijvoet) who, over the course of 40 years, build a friendship with him. The film was inspired by the real-life journals of two explorers (Theodor Koch-Grünberg and Richard Evans Schultes) who traveled through the Colombian Amazon during the last century in search of the sacred and difficult-to-find psychedelic Yakruna plant.
Shortlisted for the 88th Academy Awards® (Foreign Language category — Colombian entry) and winner of eight Macondo awards, Colombia’s equivalent of the Academy Awards®, including Best Film and Best Director, EMBRACE OF THE SERPENT premiered at the 2015 Cannes Film Festival, where it was awarded the top prize. It is nominated for the 2016 Film Independent Spirit Award for Best International Film and will play in the Spotlight section of the 2016 Sundance Film Festival. Oscilloscope Laboratories will release the film in NY on Wednesday, February 17th, and in LA on Friday, February 19th, with a national rollout to follow.
