Official Trailer for Colombia's Oscar Entry 'Embrace of the Serpent'

"Before he can become a warrior, a man has to leave everything behind and go into the jungle, guided only by his dreams." Oscilloscope has released an official trailer for the film Embrace of the Serpent, the official Oscar Foreign Language entry this year from Colombia. It's a mesmerizing B&W feature described as a "violent, psychedelic film about colonization". The story follows two real explorers from history, Theodor Koch-Grünberg played by Jan Bijvoet and Richard Evan Schultes played by Brionne Davis, who travel through the Colombian Amazon in search of the sacred and difficult-to-find psychedelic Yakruna plant. This looks like an immersive and particularly unique storytelling experience, you might want to give this a watch.

Here's the first official trailer for Ciro Guerra's Embrace of the Serpent, direct via YouTube:

At once blistering and poetic, the ravages of colonialism cast a dark shadow over the South American landscape in Embrace of the Serpent, the third feature by Ciro Guerra. Filmed in stunning black-and-white, Serpent centers on Karamakate, an Amazonian shaman and the last survivor of his people, and the two scientists who, over the course of 40 years, build a friendship with him. The film was inspired by the real-life journals of two explorers (Theodor Koch-Grünberg and Richard Evan Schultes) who traveled through the Colombian Amazon during the last century in search of the sacred and difficult-to-find psychedelic Yakruna plant. Embrace of the Serpent is written & directed by Colombian filmmaker Ciro Guerra. Arriving in theaters starting February 17th, 2016. For more info, visit the official website.