The native Wayuu family of Gujira, a desert region in northern Colombia, has adhered to its traditional lifestyle while placing themselves in tension with outsiders due to their geographical location. In the 1970s, marijuana trade begins when Americans wet with hippie culture visit Gujira, and soon the Wayuu expands the trade into the family business. The drug business, led by the local matriarch Ursula, prospers, but soon the family and its traditions face a crisis. Like their previous movie, Embrace of the Serpent, nominated for the Best Foreign Language Film at Academy Awards in 2016, Ciro Guerra and Cristina Gallego focus on the shock and the effect when the lives of Colombian natives and their traditions encounter modern civilization and western ideas. Birds of Passage takes a closer look at the traditional life of the indigenous people while incorporating the booming drug business of the family into the epic drama format in a unique combination of a visual anthropology and a drug saga. It premiered as the Opening Film at the Directors’ Fortnight in the 2018 Cannes Film Festival. (Jin Park)