Ver Cine Colombiano: Noticias | Proimágenes Colombia

Embrace of the Serpent is a production of Ciudad Lunar (Colombia), in co-production with NorteSur (Venezuela), MC Producciones (Argentina), Buffalo Films (Argentina), in association with Caracol Televisión and Dago Garcia Productions. The film has received more than one billion Colombian pesos (US$300,000) in FDC incentive awards. It tells an epic story of first contact, encounter, an ever closer relationship, betrayal, and a friendship that may endure beyond life itself: between Karamakate, an Amazonian Shaman and the last survivor of his people, and two scientists who, one forty years after the other, travel through the Amazon in search of the sacred plant that can heal them. It was inspired by the diaries of the first explorers to travel across the Colombian Amazon, Theodor Koch-Grunberg and Richard Evan Schultes.
 
The film’s Oscar nomination was the culmination of a string of successes at the world’s leading festivals and film awards. It had its world premiere at the Directors' Fortnight at Cannes, where it won the Art Cinema Award. It then went on to win Best Film at a host of festivals: the 19th Lima Film Festival in Peru; the 30th Mar del Plata Film Festival in Argentina, where it received the Golden Astor; the Yerevan Film Festival in Armenia, where it took home a Golden Apricot; the International Film Festival of India, where it received the Golden Peacock; and the Costa Rica International Film Festival.
 
At the Odessa Film Festival in Ukraine, it earned a Special Mention in the International Competition; at the Hamptons International Film Festival, in the United States, it was nominated for Best Picture and won an Honorable Mention; at the Pacific Meridian International Film Festival of Asian Pacific Countries, it received the Special Jury Prize; and at the Festival of New Latin American Cinema in Havana, Cuba, it won awards for Best Editing, which went to Etienne Boussac, and for Best Original Score, received by Nascuy Linares.
 
In Latin America, Embrace won four Fénix Prizes, awarded to the best of Ibero-American cinema: Best Cinematography, for David Gallego; Best Music, awarded to Nascuy Linares; Best Sound, for Carlos García; and Best Director, awarded to Ciro Guerra, who shared the accolade with Pablo Larraín, director of The Club. At the Macondo Awards, given out by the Colombian Academy of Film Arts and Sciences, the film picked up eight awards: Best Editing; Best Sound Design, for Marco Salaverria and Carlos García; Best Original Score; Best Art Direction, for Angélica Perea; Best Cinematography; Best Screenplay, for Ciro Guerra and Jacques Toulemonde; Best Director; and Best Picture. In December, it won the Santa Lucia Award for Best Colombian Feature Film released in 2015, granted by the young producers and directors participating in the National Competition of the 13th Bogota Short Film Festival (BOGOSHORTS).
 
On top of these awards, the film was nominated for the Horizontes Prize at the San Sebastian Festival in Spain; Best International Film at the Munich Film Festival in Germany; Best Film at the Milwaukee Film Festival in the United States; and took part in the Toronto and Busan film festivals. It is currently nominated for Best Foreign Film at the 2016 Independent Spirit Awards and at the 21st José María Forqué Awards in Spain.
 
Embrace of the Serpent has received support from the Ibermedia Program, the Hubert Bals Fund, the Argentinian INCAA, the Venezuelan CNAC, and the Colombian Film Development Fund (FDC). The FDC provided the film with Competitive and Automatic Incentive Awards totaling 1,031,228,190 Colombian pesos (US$300,000). These funds were granted in the Fiction Feature Film Development and Production category in 2011 (US$210,000); the Feature Film Promotion category (US$65,000); the 2012 Participation of Feature Films in Meetings category (US$1,500); the Participation of Feature Films in Film Markets category (US$2,250); the Films at Film Festivals category (US$7,500); and the Participation in Film Awards category (US$24,000).
 
Shot in Mitu, San José del Guaviare, and Puerto Inirida, Embrace of the Serpent is the only Latin American film among the Best Foreign Language Film nominees, which also include Son of Saul by László Nemes (Hungary), Mustang by Deniz Gamze Ergüyen (France), Theeb by Naji Abu Nowar (Jordan), and A War by Tobias Lindholm (Denmark). The winner will be announced at the awards ceremony to be held at Hollywood’s Dolby Theatre on February 28.