Colombia 1968: Long before the name Pablo Escobar is on everyone's lips, a family from the matriarchal Wayuu tribe lays the foundations for the notorious drug trade that still destabilizes Colombia today. The young Rapayet sells some marijuana to Americans in the Peace Corps. Business booms and he soon becomes the richest man in the remote steppe region. But this wealth comes at a high price. A brutal war for power and money breaks out, jeopardizing not only the lives of the tribe, but also their culture and traditions. Married director duo Ciro Guerra and Cristina Gallego tell an epic story in impressive and surreal images, in which the myths of the Wayuu are interwoven with the harsh realities of drug trafficking. Unlike series such as “Narcos”, the film, which is based on a true story, completely dispenses with a cool glorification of the drug lords. Instead, it tells the story of what the drug business does to a tribe that - as is stated at one point - has already survived and driven out all kinds of land robbers, pirates, Spaniards and the English - but is in danger of perishing because of American capitalism. Guerra, who was nominated for an Oscar for “The Shaman and the Snake”, once again succeeds in creating a masterpiece that is as powerful as it is poetic - a visually stunning battle between culture and capitalism. “Birds of Passage” was the opening film of the ‘Quinzaine des Réalisateurs’ at the 2018 Cannes Film Festival and was submitted by Colombia for the Oscar in the ‘Best Foreign Language Film’ category.