Ciro Guerra’s “Birds of Passage” Selected as Colombia’s Official Entry for the Foreign Language Film Oscar Race

Ciro Guerra is hoping for Oscar passage again…  

The 37-year-oldColombian film director and screenwriter’s Birds of Passage, a sprawling epic about the erosion of tradition in pursuit of material wealth, has been selected as Colombia’s official entry for the Foreign Language Film Oscar race, according to distributor The Orchard.

Ciro Guerra & Cristina Gallego

The film is directed by Cristina Gallego and Guerra — the respective producer and director of 2015’s Embrace of the Serpent, the first Colombian film ever to be nominated for an Academy Award.

Birds of Passage premiered as the opening-night selection of the Directors’ Fortnight at the Cannes Film Festival in May.

Tracing the origins of the Colombian drug trade as it slowly corrupts a native Wayúu family, Birds of Passage stars Jose Acosta, Carmiña Martínez and Natalia Reyes (the upcoming Terminator reboot).

The film will screen at the Toronto Film Festival and is set for release by The Orchard on Wednesday, February 13th in New York and Los Angeles, with a national rollout to follow.

“We are incredibly humbled and honored to again be the Colombian selection for entry to the Academy Awards, especially with a film that is so personal to our country’s history and narrative,” said Gallego and Guerra. “We are very grateful to La Academia Colombiana de Artes y Ciencias Cinematográficas, which has supported us throughout our careers. It is with great pride that we bring this film to a global audience.”

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