Ciro Guerra was born in Colombia in 1981 and studied film and television at the National University of Colombia. At the age of 21, after directing four award-winning short films, he wrote and directed La Sombra del Caminante (The Wandering Shadows) (2004), his feature directorial debut, which won awards at the San Sebastian, Toulouse, Mar de Plata, Trieste, Havana, Quito, Cartagena, Santiago, and Warsaw film festivals. His second feature film, Los Viajes del Viento (The Wind Journeys) (2009) was released in 17 countries, selected for 90 festivals, and received awards in Cannes, Santa Bárbara, Málaga, Santiago, Bogotá, and Cartagena. It was recently selected in a national critic’s poll as one of the top 10 most important Colombian films in history. Both films were chosen to represent Colombia in the Academy Awards. Embrace of the Serpent is his third feature film.