Film Independent has unveiled the nominees for the 31st Film Independent Spirit Awards, which include two Colombian productions: Manos Sucias and El abrazo de la serpiente / Embrace of the Serpent.
Manos Sucias (pictured left) by American director Josef Kubota Wladyka is nominated for Best First Feature Film and for Best Editing, while Embrace of the Serpent (pictured below) by Ciro Guerra is competing for Best International Film.
Manos Sucias was premiered at the Tribeca Film Festival, and tells the story of a fisherman and a naive young man begin trafficking drugs up the Pacific coast of Colombia. As they tow a drug-filled torpedo, they are forced to navigate through the war-torn region and the growing tension between them.
Embrace of the Serpent had its world premiere at Cannes’ Directors’ Fortnight last May where it won the top prize, and it’s Colombia’s entry for the Best Foreign Language Film at the 88th Academy Awards. The film tells two stories, taking place in 1909 and 1940, both starring Karamakate, an Amazonian shaman and last survivor of his tribe. He travels with two scientists, German Theodor Koch-Grunberg and American Richard Evans Schultes, to look for the rare yakruna, a sacred plant. The film is loosely inspired by the diaries written by the two scientists during their field work in the Amazon.
The Film Independent Spirit Awards will be handing out on February 27, 2016, in Santa Monica, California.
