Embrace of the Serpent wins top Director’s Fortnight prize at Cannes

Colombian director CIRO GUERRA’s acclaimed new film EMBRACE OF THE SERPENT has been named the winner of the coveted Art Cinema Award at this year’s Cannes Film Festival in France.
The filmmaker closed out the Directors’ Fortnight segment of the annual event on Friday (22May15) by picking up the honour.
In total, 18 films were screened in the feature competition as part of the contest.
Guerra’s black and white film chronicles the bizarre friendship between an Amazonian shaman and two scientists. It was inspired by the journals of explorers Theodor Koch-Grunberg and Richard Evans Schultes.
Meanwhile, the SACD Prize, which is awarded annually to a French-language film, went to Arnaud Desplechin’s Trois souvenirs de ma jeunesse, and Deniz Gamze Erguven’s Mustang was named the winner of the Europa Cinemas Award.
This year’s (15) Cannes Film Festival will come to a close on Sunday (24May15) when top prizes including the prestigious Palme d’Or will be awarded at the Palais des Festivals in Cannes.