FICCI56: EMBRACE OF THE SERPENT—The Cineaste Interview With Ciro Guerra

Photo courtesy of Cineaste.

Ciro Guerra may not have won the Foreign Language Academy Award® for Embrace of the Serpent (2015); but, the film's nomination remains a stirring first in Colombian cinematic history and continues to be celebrated internationally as one of the year's most significant films. It has certainly inspired considerable enthusiasm among Colombia's filmmaking community and is being seen as an invitation for Colombian filmmakers to aspire towards an international stage.

At the 56th edition of the Cartagena International Film Festival (FICCI56) Embrace of the Serpent has been programmed into FICCI56's popular sidebar "Cinema Under the Stars", a non-competitive section of the festival during which the streets of Cartagena's Historic Center are transformed into a giant outdoor movie theater. Thanks to the sponsorship of EPM, RCN Radio Televisión, Bigvideo TV and the IPCC, the public will have opportunity to celebrate Embrace of the Serpent against a star-studded backdrop. FICCI56 has also arranged for the hearing and visually impaired to catch a special screening of the film at Multiplex Cine Colombia Plaza Bocagrande. Further, Guerra will be teaching a master class to filmmakers attending FICCI56.

It's with genuine pleasure that I join Colombia's celebration of Embrace of the Serpent with my recently-published conversation with Ciro Guerra, conducted over breakfast at the Palm Springs International, and published as a web exclusive at Cineaste.