Ciro Guerra
Ciro Guerra (born 6 February 1981) is a Colombian film director and screenwriter. He is best known for his 2015 film Embrace of the Serpent, which was nominated for Best Foreign Language Film at the 88th Academy Awards, and for The Wind Journeys, selected as the Colombian entry for the Best Foreign Language Film at the 82nd Academy Awards.
Ciro Guerra

Armineaghayan · CC BY-SA 4.0
- Name
- Ciro Guerra
- Born
- 6 February 1981
- Birthplace
- Río de Oro, Colombia
- Occupation
- Film director Screenwriter
- Nationality
- Colombia
- Education
- National University of Colombia
- Languages
- Spanish
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Ciro Guerra (born 6 February 1981) is a Colombian film director and screenwriter. He is best known for his 2015 film Embrace of the Serpent, which was nominated for Best Foreign Language Film at the 88th Academy Awards, and for The Wind Journeys, selected as the Colombian entry for the Best Foreign Language Film at the 82nd Academy Awards.
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Ciro Guerra (born 1981) is a film director and screenwriter, of Colombian nationality. The film director was born in Río de Oro. Ciro Guerra was educated at National University of Colombia. Languages used include Spanish.
Composed from admitted, traceable facts · 27 September 2026
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Documentary evidence
Documentary basis
Authority files
wikidata · Q2974216 · wikipedia · Ciro Guerra
In this article
Key facts
Key facts
• Name — Ciro Guerra • Born — 6 February 1981 • Birthplace — Río de Oro, Colombia • Occupation — Film director Screenwriter • Years Active — 1998–present
Career
Career
He made his first film, Wandering Shadows, in 2004 at the age of 23. The film was selected as Colombian submission for Best Foreign Language Film at the 78th Academy Awards, but it was not nominated. His next film, The Wind Journeys, competed in the Un Certain Regard section at the 2009 Cannes Film Festival and was selected as Colombian submission for Best Foreign Language Film at the 82nd Academy Awards; it also was not selected. His 2015 film Embrace of the Serpent was screened in the Directors' Fortnight section at the 2015 Cannes Film Festival, where it won the C.I.C.A.E. Award. It won the Best Film award in the International Film Festivals of Odesa and Lima, where it also received a special prize from the Critics Jury. The film was also among the nominees for Best Foreign Language Film at the 88th Academy Awards, being the first Colombian film ever to be nominated. On 22 November 2017, Netflix ordered the limited series Green Frontier to production. Green Frontier is based on an original idea from Diego Ramírez Schrempp and Jenny Ceballos of Dynamo Producciones. Guerra is credited as an executive producer of the series, alongside, Diego Ramírez Schrempp, Andrés Calderón, Jorge Dorado and Cristian Conti. The series was directed by Guerra, Laura Mora Ortega and Jacques Toulemonde Vidal and written by Mauricio Leiva-Cock, Antón Goenechea, Camila Brugrés, Gibrán Portela, Javier Peñalosa, María Camila Arias, Natalia Santa and Nicolás Serrano. The miniseries premiered on Netflix on 16 August 2019. In 2018, Guerra released his fourth feature film, Birds of Passage, which was filmed in La Guajira Desert, Colombia. Guerra states that it is "like a gangster film, but something completely different from any gangster film that you have ever seen". Guerra has also directed an adaptation of J. M. Coetzee's novel Waiting for the Barbarians, starring Mark Rylance, Johnny Depp, Robert Pattinson, Gana Bayarsaikhan, and Greta Scacchi. The film premiered at the Venice Film Festival on 6 September 2019, and was released on 7 August 2020, by Samuel Goldwyn Films. He was the jury president of the International Critics' Week section of the 2019 Cannes Film Festival.
Personal life
Personal life
Guerra was married to his longtime producer Cristina Gallego. The couple divorced during the filming of Birds of Passage, which they co-directed. In 2020, Spanish-speaking feminist periodical Volcánicas published the story of eight women in the film industry accusing Guerra of sexual harassment. Guerra denied the accusations and vowed to pursue legal action against those who had made them. In May 2021, a court in Bogotá, Colombia, ruled in favour of Guerra and ordered the magazine to rectify its report, as their claims lacked detail and evidence. In response, in the same month, Volcánicas published more details and new accusations in their investigation. After a legal battle, the Constitutional Court of Colombia overruled and revoked all previous decisions, denying Guerra's pretentions (thus confirming the journalists' right to free speech).
Filmography
Filmography
• Year — Film — Credited as • Director — Writer — Notes • 1998 — Silence — Short. • 1999 — Documental siniestro: Jairo Pinilla, cineasta — Documentary. • 2000 — Alma — Short. • 2001 — Intento — Animated short film. • 2004 — Wandering Shadows • 2009 — The Wind Journeys • 2015 — Embrace of the Serpent • 2018 — Birds of Passage — Co-directed with Cristina Gallego. • 2019 — Green Frontier — Netflix mini-series. Executive producer. • 2019 — Waiting for the Barbarians
Accolades
Accolades
• 2021 - Jury member at 52nd International Film Festival of India, Goa.
Identity
Identity
Ciro Guerra is recorded as film director and screenwriter.

Convention Center, Punta del Este, Uruguay, 24 July 2016
Jimmy Baikovicius from Montevideo, Uruguay · Ciro Guerra’s “Embrace of the Serpent” swept the 3rd Platino Ibero-American Film Awards | 160725-9154-jikatu

Master Class by Ciro Guerra in the framework of Golden Apricot film festival
Armineaghayan
Life and career
Dated record
Life and career
The full dated record · 1 entries
1981
Ciro Guerra born at Río de Oro.
Primary material
Documents and archives
reference work
- Wikidata, structured authority record Q2974216: Ciro Guerra
Reputable secondary · Wikidata
- “Ciro Guerra”, English Wikipedia, consulted as further reading
Reputable secondary · Wikipedia
scholarly publication
authority file
- VIAF cluster 20872896 for Ciro Guerra, aggregating national library name authorities.
General reference · OCLC
Awards and nominations
• Year — Association — Nominated work — Category — Result • 2003 — San Sebastián International Film Festival — Wandering Shadows — Films in Progress Award • 2009 — Cannes Film Festival — The Wind Journeys — Award of the City of Rome • Un Certain Regard Award • 2015 — Mar del Plata International Film Festival — Embrace of the Serpent — Golden Ástor • 2016 — Academy Awards — Best Foreign Language Film • 2016 — Durban International Film Festival — Best Direction • 2016 — Independent Spirit Awards — Best International Film • 2016 — Platino Awards — Best Director • Best Screenplay
Notes from the source article
Cited by Wikipedia
Notes from the source article
These works are cited by the source article, in its own numbering. They are recorded as its citations, not as sources VALÉORINE has verified.
- 1.Festival de Cannes: The Wind Journeys. festival-cannes.com.
- 2.The Directors' Fortnight 2015 selection!. Quinzaine des Réalisateurs.
- 3.Justin Chang. Cannes: Directors' Fortnight Unveils 2015 Lineup. Variety. 21 April 2015.
- 4.Ford, Rebecca. Oscar Nominations: The Complete List. The Hollywood Reporter. 14 January 2016.
- 5.Marie de la Fuente, Anna. Netflix to Make its First Original Colombian Series. Variety. 22 November 2017.
- 6.Netflix continues to invest in Colombia with upcoming slate of six diverse original productions. Netflix Media Center. 8 October 2018.
- 7.Mango, Agustin. Inside the Growth in 5 Key Latin American Markets. The Hollywood Reporter. 4 November 2018.
- 8.These are the three original series that Colombia produces for Netflix. El Espectador. 9 March 2018.
- 9.This is "Frontera Verde", the Ciro Guerra and Laura Mora series for Netflix. El Espectador. 29 July 2018.
- 10.Netflix reveals some details of the Colombian series 'Frontera Verde'. Colombia. 29 July 2019.
- 11.Ciro Guerra Interview - Embrace of the Serpent; director reveals his next movie will be 'like a gangster film'. Flickreel. 10 June 2016.
- 12.de la Fuente, Anne Marie. Colombia's Caracol TV Boards Ciro Guerra's 'Birds of a Passage'. Variety.
- 13.Busch, Anita. Mark Rylance & Ciro Guerra To Bring J.M. Coetzee's 'Waiting For The Barbarians' To Big Screen. Deadline.
- 14.Jurys 2019 La Semaine de la Critique of Festival de Cannes. Semaine de la Critique du Festival de Cannes.
- 15.Kohn, Eric. 'Birds of Passage' Directors Got Divorced While Shooting — and Still Made a Masterpiece.
- 16.Ruiz-Navarro, Catalina. OCHO DENUNCIAS DE ACOSO Y ABUSO SEXUAL CONTRA CIRO GUERRA.
- 17.Eight women accuse Colombian director Ciro Guerra of sexual harassment, assault: Report.
- 18.Ciro Guerra: Court Rules in Favor of Director, Orders Magazine to Rectify Report on Sexual Harassment and Abuse Claims. Variety.
- 19.Ruiz-Navarro, Catalina. Más información y una nueva denuncia de acoso sexual contra Ciro Guerra.
- 20.Ruling T-452/22. Constitutional Court of Colombia.
- 21.Martin Scorsese, Istvan Szabo to be honoured at Iffi 2021. Times of India. 23 October 2021.
References
Citations
References
Each reference names the institution holding it, so a reader may go to the document itself.
scholarly publication
Las políticas culturales del Estado colombiano y la constitución de una identidad. El caso de La sombra del Caminante (2004), de Ciro Guerra, Dixit, 2022Crossref registry
Institutional witnessauthority file
Secondary witnessreference work
Secondary witnessreference work
Secondary witness
The Encyclopedia exists whether or not anything is for sale. Corrections are recorded rather than overwritten, and every version of this record is kept. Published 14 August 2026.
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