Martha's Vineyard Film Society Tisbury, MA
Holly Bellebuono
Medical Herbalist; CEO, Bellebuono Holistic International
Embrace of the Serpent— Nature's Healing Process: The Use of Plants to Cure Our Ills
Program Description
A discussion of ethnobotany and the practices of indigenous and shamanic healers.
Presented At
Martha's Vineyard Film Society Tisbury, MA
Film Synopsis
The story of the relationship between Karamakate, an Amazonian shaman and last survivor of his people, and two scientists who work together over the course of 40 years to search the Amazon for a sacred healing plant.
The film tells two stories, taking place in 1909 and 1940, both starring Karamakate (played as a young man by Nilbio Torres and as an older man by Antonio Bolivar) an Amazonian shaman and last survivor of his tribe. He travels with two scientists, German Theodor Koch-Grunberg (Jan Bijvoet) and American Richard Evans Schultes (Brionne Davis), to look for the rare yakruna, a sacred plant. The film is loosely inspired by the diaries written by the two scientists during their field work in the Amazon. Embrace of the Serpent won the Art Cinema Award in the Directors' Fortnight section at the 2015 Cannes Film Festival, and it was nominated for the Best Foreign Language Film at the 88th Academy Awards.
About the Speaker
Holly Bellebuono is an herbalist, author, and empowerment facilitator specializing in women’s health and visionary thinking. She is CEO of Bellebuono Holistic International, the umbrella group for The Bellebuono School of Herbal Medicine and Vineyard Herbs Teas & Apothecary LLC on Martha’s Vineyard. As a renowned herbalist of several decades, she is the author of several books on herbal medicine and empowerment and is a sought after speaker and teacher at conferences and universities.