| Embrace of the Serpent | |
|---|---|
 Theatrical poster | |
| Directed by | Ciro Guerra |
| Written by | Ciro Guerra Jacques Toulemonde Vidal |
| Based on | Theodor Koch-Grunberg and Richard Evans Schultes (diaries) |
| Produced by | Cristina Gallego |
| Starring |
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| Cinematography | David Gallego |
| Edited by | Etienne Boussac |
| Music by | Nascuy Linares |
Production companies |
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| Distributed by | Diaphana Films |
Release dates |
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Running time | 125 minutes |
| Countries | Colombia Venezuela Argentina |
| Languages | Cubeo Huitoto Ticuna Wanano Spanish Portuguese German Catalan Latin English |
| Budget | $1.4 million[2] |
| Box office | $3.4 million[3] |
Embrace of the Serpent (Spanish: El abrazo de la serpiente) is a 2015 internationally co-produced adventure drama film directed by Ciro Guerra, and written by Guerra and Jacques Toulemonde Vidal. Shot almost entirely in black and white, the film follows two journeys made thirty years apart by the indigenous shaman Karamakate in the Colombian Amazonian jungle, one with Theo, a German ethnographer, and the other with Evan, an American botanist, both of whom are searching for the rare plant yakruna. It was inspired by the travel diaries of Theodor Koch-Grünberg and Richard Evans Schultes, and dedicated to lost Amazonian cultures.
Embrace of the Serpent was premiered on 15 May 2015 during the Directors' Fortnight section at the 2015 Cannes Film Festival, where it won the Art Cinema Award. The film was released in Colombia on 21 May 2015, and worldwide over the course of the following twelve months. It has received universal acclaim from critics, who praised the cinematography and the story's theme, the destruction of the Amazon rainforest and way of life by white colonialism. It has won numerous awards, including the Alfred P. Sloan Prize at the 2016 Sundance Film Festival, the Grand Jury Prize for Best Picture at the 2017 Riviera International Film Festival, and seven awards at the 3rd Platino Awards to recognise the best Ibero-American films of 2015, including the Platino Award for Best Ibero-American Film. In 2016 the film was submitted as Colombia's entry for the category of Best Foreign Language Film at the 88th Academy Awards and was included among the final five nominees, becoming the first Colombian film to receive a nomination for the award.
- ^ "En mayo, cosecha de estrenos colombianos en la pantalla grande". El Tiempo (in Spanish). 8 May 2015. Retrieved 15 February 2019.
- ^ "'Este es el momento del cine colombiano': Ciro Guerra". El Tiempo (in Spanish). 14 January 2016. Retrieved 14 January 2016.
- ^ "Embrace of the Serpent (2016)". Box Office Mojo.