Film Screening: Birds of Passage
November 17, 2026 - 6:00 pm
Segal Theatre
The Graduate Center, CUNY
Film screening followed by a Q&A Session
Set in the harsh Guajira desert of northern Colombia, Birds of Passage follows a Wayuu man named Rapayet whose entry into the marijuana trade begins simply enough: a cash windfall from selling weed to American Peace Corps volunteers. What starts as opportunity quietly becomes obsession, and obsession becomes ruin. Directors Cristina Gallego and Ciro Guerra tell this story in five parts, tracing the rise and collapse of a family over decades.
What sets the film apart from other narco dramas is its deep attention to Wayuu culture and tradition. Ancient rituals, strict codes of communication, and elaborate customs around marriage and dowry shape every decision the characters make. As money pours in, those traditions erode one by one, replaced by pride, greed, and violence. The film never romanticizes its indigenous characters or presents them as innocent bystanders. They make choices, and they live with the consequences.
Visually, the film is stunning. Sweeping desert landscapes and eerie, surreal imagery give it the feeling of a myth being told in real time. By the end, the only traditions still standing are the ones driving the family toward self-destruction. Birds of Passage is a slow-burning, deeply human epic about what is lost when a culture trades its identity for wealth it was never meant to have.
Jerry W. Carlson (Ph.D., University of Chicago) is professor and a historian of narrative forms with special expertise in narrative theory, the history of the novel, global independent film, and the cinemas of the Americas. From 2013 to 2022 he served as Chair of the Department of Media & Communication Arts at The City College CUNY. In addition, at the CUNY Graduate Center he is a member of the doctoral faculties of French, Comparative Literature, and Film & Media Cultures and a Senior Fellow at the Bildner Center for Western Hemispheric Studies. He has lectured at Stanford, Columbia, Escuela Internacional de Cine y TV (Cuba), the University of Paris, and the University of Sao Paulo, among others. His current research is focused on how film and prose fiction from the Global South portray the histories and legacies of slavery, imperialism and colonialism. Moreover, he is an active producer, director, and writer with multiple Emmy Awards. As a Senior Producer for City University Television (CUNY-TV), he created the series City Cinematheque about film history, Canapé about French-American cultural relations, and Nueva York (in Spanish) about the Latino cultures of New York City. As an independent producer, his work includes the Showtime Networks production Dirt directed by Nancy Savoca and Looking for Palladin directed by Andrzej Krakowski. In 1998, he was inducted by France as a Chevalier de l’Ordre des Palmes Academiques.
Curator & Moderator: Jerry W. Carlson, Senior Fellow, The Bildner Center for Western Hemispheric Studies & Professor, The City College & Graduate Center, CUNY
TO REGISTER send email to bildner@gc.cuny.edu
