Embrace of the Serpent

A breathtaking ethnographic odyssey through the heart of the Colombian Amazon, Embrace of the Serpent is the epic story of the first contact, approach, betrayal and, eventually, friendship, between Karamakate, an amazonian shaman, last survivor of his people, and two scientists that, over the course of 40 years, become the first men to travel the Northwest Amazon in search of a sacred and difficult-to-find psychedelic Yakruna plant.

With nine different languages spoken during the course of the film, this hypnotic meditation on the beauty of nature and effects of colonialism is presented with an uncommon sense of curiosity rarely seen. The crisp black and white photography captures the extraordinary landscapes with a haunting, almost mythical sense of wonder, while the balance between documentary-style realism and dreamlike mysticism makes for a truly poetic cinematic experience.