After receiving an Oscar nom for Best Foreign Language Film with “Embrace of the Serpent” in 2015, Cristina Gallego’s latest film “Birds of Passage” continues its tour of silver screens nationwide.
According to online sources, Gallego graduated from Institución Universitaria Politécnico Grancolombiano in 1999 where she studied publicity and marketing, and graduated in 2003 from the National University of Colombia where she studied film and television. After graduating, she worked as a producer of educational and cultural television at the same institution until 2007.
While she was still a student, in 1998, she founded the film production company Ciudá Llunar Producciones where she teamed with film director Ciro Guerra. Once her focus was shifted to producing feature length films, the team went on to make the most recognized and lauded films ever made in Colombia.
In 2015 the duo presented ‘Embrace of the Serpent’, the first Colombian film ever to be nominated for an Oscar.
Almost immediately following the success of their 2015 film, Gallego and Guerra went on to co-direct Colombia’s 2019 Academy Award entry for Best Foreign Language Film “Birds of Passage” which also garnered US accolades with an Oscar shortlist nod.
In addition to US acclaim, Gallego’s awards include the Platino Award for Best Editing and the Fénix Film Award for Best Fictional Film–cementing her status as a female filmmaker to watch from Latin America.
For her latest award winning feature length film, her production team researched Native American group the Wayuu extensively and made contact with the tribe to incorporate the right customs and stories. Production was even 30% tribespeople in an effort to get the story straight.
An LA Times review said “Birds of Passage” is “‘The Godfather’ made by dazzling Latin American directors who combine bravura filmmaking with political awareness and a probing social conscience.”
Catch her latest Oscar shortlisted film, “Birds of Passage” in all of its big screen glory while you still can. Use this neat geo-locator website for screening locations near you, here.
