Biography

Ciro Guerra (born 6 February 1981) is a Colombian film director and screenwriter. He is best known for his film Embrace of the Serpent (2015), who was the first Colombian film ever to be nominated for Best Foreign Language Film at the Academy Awards. He made his first film Wandering Shadows in 2004 at the age of 23. The film was selected as Colombian submission for Best Foreign Language Film at the 78th Academy Awards, however it was not nominated. His next film The Wind Journeys competed in the Un Certain Regard section at the 2009 Cannes Film Festival and was selected as Colombian submission for Best Foreign Language Film at the 82nd Academy Awards; it also was not selected. His 2015 film Embrace of the Serpent was screened in the Directors' Fortnight section at the 2015 Cannes Film Festival, where it won the C.I.C.A.E. Award. It won the Best Film award at the International Film Festivals of Odessa and Lima, where it also received a special prize by the Critics Jury. The film was among the nominees for Best Foreign Language Film at the 88th Academy Awards, being the first Colombian film ever to be nominated. In 2018, Guerra released his fourth feature film, Birds of Passage, co-directed by Cristina Gallego. It was selected to open the 50th edition of the Directors' Fortnight section at the 2018 Cannes Film Festival. His next feature film Waiting for the Barbarians will be his first in English and is starring Mark Rylance as the lead.