With John Travolta, Gregory Nava and a host of other luminaries lighting it up, the 12th Panama International Film Festival wrapped Sunday on a high note, with general attendance exceeding expectations.
Speaking at the closing ceremony held at the Canal Museum, Pituka Ortega-Heilbron, Iff Panama Board President, hailed this latest edition as a vibrant rebirth for the festival.
“We were hit by the phenomenon of the pandemic, and we certainly don’t want to complain or victimize ourselves because to fight is synonymous with living, but this festival has fought tirelessly for the last four years to thrive.”
“There’s still much ground to cover. We must work together – government, community groups, and businesses – to understand how important cultural and creative industries are for our country’s economy and society to grow,” declared Culture Minister Giselle González Villarué, who later told Variety that a delayed feasibility study that would explore...
Speaking at the closing ceremony held at the Canal Museum, Pituka Ortega-Heilbron, Iff Panama Board President, hailed this latest edition as a vibrant rebirth for the festival.
“We were hit by the phenomenon of the pandemic, and we certainly don’t want to complain or victimize ourselves because to fight is synonymous with living, but this festival has fought tirelessly for the last four years to thrive.”
“There’s still much ground to cover. We must work together – government, community groups, and businesses – to understand how important cultural and creative industries are for our country’s economy and society to grow,” declared Culture Minister Giselle González Villarué, who later told Variety that a delayed feasibility study that would explore...
- 4/9/2024
- by Anna Marie de la Fuente
- Variety Film + TV
Moved from its usual December berth last year, the 12th Panama International Film Festival (Iff Panama) runs April 4-7, replete with new industry activities and double the number of films since its previous edition.
True to its mandate to serve as a showcase for Central American and Caribbean cinema, the festival’s program this year includes a bevy of acclaimed films from the region, including two Panamanian Indigenous-themed features, “Bila Burba” and “God is a Woman.”
Recent years has seen the growing international recognition of pics from the region, with Nelson Carlo de los Santos becoming the first Dominican – and first Latin American – filmmaker to snag the best director Silver Bear at the Berlinale for his drama, “Pepe.”
Costa Rican director Antonella Sudasassi Furniss’ sophomore feature, “Memories of a Burning Body,” clinched the Audience Award for best fiction film in the Panorama section of the A-list German festival.
Both are screening at Iff Panama.
True to its mandate to serve as a showcase for Central American and Caribbean cinema, the festival’s program this year includes a bevy of acclaimed films from the region, including two Panamanian Indigenous-themed features, “Bila Burba” and “God is a Woman.”
Recent years has seen the growing international recognition of pics from the region, with Nelson Carlo de los Santos becoming the first Dominican – and first Latin American – filmmaker to snag the best director Silver Bear at the Berlinale for his drama, “Pepe.”
Costa Rican director Antonella Sudasassi Furniss’ sophomore feature, “Memories of a Burning Body,” clinched the Audience Award for best fiction film in the Panorama section of the A-list German festival.
Both are screening at Iff Panama.
- 4/3/2024
- by Anna Marie de la Fuente
- Variety Film + TV
“TransMexico,” “Edge of Everything” and Andragogy” are among the winners of the 39th annual Santa Barbara International Film Festival.
The Sbiff, whose mission is to discover and showcase the “best in independent and international cinema,” has become one of the leading film festivals in the United States – attracting roughly 100,000 attendees for a packed week slatted with screenings of over 200+ films.
A panel of jury members selected the winners, which included Lesley Chilcott, Alex Keledjian, Chris Landon, Lael Loewenstein, Jacqueline Lyanga, David Magdael, Gail Mancuso, Greg Nava, Pituka Ortega Heilbron, Carla Renata, Gil Robertson, Ondi Timoner, Clay Tweel and Ali Wolfe.
“We are so grateful to our dedicated group of jurors for their fine selections,” Claudia Puig, Sbiff’s programming director, said in a statement. “The winning films tell stories that span the globe, from the magic of movie palaces in the Atacama Desert to the stunning mystery of ice caves...
The Sbiff, whose mission is to discover and showcase the “best in independent and international cinema,” has become one of the leading film festivals in the United States – attracting roughly 100,000 attendees for a packed week slatted with screenings of over 200+ films.
A panel of jury members selected the winners, which included Lesley Chilcott, Alex Keledjian, Chris Landon, Lael Loewenstein, Jacqueline Lyanga, David Magdael, Gail Mancuso, Greg Nava, Pituka Ortega Heilbron, Carla Renata, Gil Robertson, Ondi Timoner, Clay Tweel and Ali Wolfe.
“We are so grateful to our dedicated group of jurors for their fine selections,” Claudia Puig, Sbiff’s programming director, said in a statement. “The winning films tell stories that span the globe, from the magic of movie palaces in the Atacama Desert to the stunning mystery of ice caves...
- 2/17/2024
- by Diego Ramos Bechara
- Variety Film + TV
Scott Waugh whose credits include “Act of Valor” and the upcoming “The Expendables 4,” is attached to direct the upcoming documentary “Escape to Atlantis,” based on the findings of Seattle native Dr. Jason Rubin who has used deductive reasoning, the writings of philosopher Plato and cutting-edge satellite sonar imagery to pinpoint the location of the fabled lost island of Atlantis.
Said Waugh: “Every story, whether fact or fable, has a character we believe in and hope they prevail. Wouldn’t it be great to be part of a story where our protagonist wins and redefines the world’s truth?” “If Dr. Rubin has found Atlantis, not only does he continually save lives in the ER room, but he will have risen the dead of those lost in Plato’s fable and will redefine our history. That is a story I want to be a part of,” he added.
The documentary is being produced by Rubin,...
Said Waugh: “Every story, whether fact or fable, has a character we believe in and hope they prevail. Wouldn’t it be great to be part of a story where our protagonist wins and redefines the world’s truth?” “If Dr. Rubin has found Atlantis, not only does he continually save lives in the ER room, but he will have risen the dead of those lost in Plato’s fable and will redefine our history. That is a story I want to be a part of,” he added.
The documentary is being produced by Rubin,...
- 2/23/2023
- by Anna Marie de la Fuente
- Variety Film + TV
A truncated Panama Int’l Film Festival (Iff Panama) wrapped Dec. 4 on a high note, with the debut doc-feature “Nación de Titanes” by Panamanian Joaquín Horna Sosa snagging the Audience Award, a good indication of its box office potential.
One of only four Panamanian features in competition, “Nación de Titanes” follows six wrestlers during Panama’s golden age of wrestling during the ‘60s through the ‘80s. Doc-feature stars wrestlers Sandokan, Ricardo Díaz, El Greco, El Titán, Cronox II and Johnny González as it chronicles the ups and downs of their respective careers and digs into the origins of the sport.
The three-day festival had encouraging news from Culture Minister Giselle Gonzalez and Panama City Deputy Mayor Judy Meana who both pledged their continued support for the festival.
Pituka Ortega Heilbron, chair of the festival board and foundation, noted that the festival was operating at a fraction of its normal size...
One of only four Panamanian features in competition, “Nación de Titanes” follows six wrestlers during Panama’s golden age of wrestling during the ‘60s through the ‘80s. Doc-feature stars wrestlers Sandokan, Ricardo Díaz, El Greco, El Titán, Cronox II and Johnny González as it chronicles the ups and downs of their respective careers and digs into the origins of the sport.
The three-day festival had encouraging news from Culture Minister Giselle Gonzalez and Panama City Deputy Mayor Judy Meana who both pledged their continued support for the festival.
Pituka Ortega Heilbron, chair of the festival board and foundation, noted that the festival was operating at a fraction of its normal size...
- 12/5/2022
- by Anna Marie de la Fuente
- Variety Film + TV
French auteur filmmaker Claire Denis returns to Panama to open the 11th Panama Int’l Film Festival Dec. 2 with her Cannes Grand Prix winner “Stars at Noon.”
While set in Nicaragua, the drama shot primarily in Panama last year and is associate produced by Hypatia Films, run by Pituka Ortega Heilbron and Marcela Heilbron, which provided production services. Fest – the Iff Panama as it is also known – closes Dec. 4 with “Tito, Margot y Yo,” an intriguing documentary about the 20th century’s greatest ballerina, Dame Margot Fonteyn, and her marriage to Panamanian politician, Tito Arias.
Some changes are afoot at the festival where, starting this year, Bernardo Ordás Guardia takes over festival duties from Ortega Heilbron who is now chair of the festival board and foundation. Ortega Heilbron plans to devote more time to directing and producing although she will continue to be involved with programming, guests and expanding the festival’s reach.
While set in Nicaragua, the drama shot primarily in Panama last year and is associate produced by Hypatia Films, run by Pituka Ortega Heilbron and Marcela Heilbron, which provided production services. Fest – the Iff Panama as it is also known – closes Dec. 4 with “Tito, Margot y Yo,” an intriguing documentary about the 20th century’s greatest ballerina, Dame Margot Fonteyn, and her marriage to Panamanian politician, Tito Arias.
Some changes are afoot at the festival where, starting this year, Bernardo Ordás Guardia takes over festival duties from Ortega Heilbron who is now chair of the festival board and foundation. Ortega Heilbron plans to devote more time to directing and producing although she will continue to be involved with programming, guests and expanding the festival’s reach.
- 11/30/2022
- by Anna Marie de la Fuente
- Variety Film + TV
Seattle-based MindRiot Entertainment is teaming up with Panama’s Hypatia Films, an associate producer of Claire Denis’ Cannes Grand Prix winner “Stars at Noon,” on the groundbreaking documentary, “In Search of Atlantis,” based on the findings of Seattle native Dr. Jason Rubin who has used deductive reasoning, the writings of philosopher Plato and the most advanced satellite sonar imagery to pinpoint the location of the fabled lost island of Atlantis.
According to MindRiot co-founder and chief creative officer Jonathan Keasey, Dr. Rubin passed on other Hollywood suitors as he liked MindRiot’s approach to the content and the fact that it had marshalled the support of multiple universities, including deep sea explorer Don Walsh, the honorary president of the Explorers Club, and even European authorities, given the maritime jurisdiction of Rubin’s site in the Atlantic Ocean.
Denis is among the constellation of world talent descending on the 70th San Sebastian Film Festival.
According to MindRiot co-founder and chief creative officer Jonathan Keasey, Dr. Rubin passed on other Hollywood suitors as he liked MindRiot’s approach to the content and the fact that it had marshalled the support of multiple universities, including deep sea explorer Don Walsh, the honorary president of the Explorers Club, and even European authorities, given the maritime jurisdiction of Rubin’s site in the Atlantic Ocean.
Denis is among the constellation of world talent descending on the 70th San Sebastian Film Festival.
- 9/12/2022
- by Anna Marie de la Fuente
- Variety Film + TV
Launched in 2015, Iff Panama’s rough-cut sidebar Primera Mirada has proved a vital launch pad for Central American and Caribbean films in post, providing that all-important impetus towards their final completion.
A jury led by Diana Sánchez, Marcelo Quesada and Paula Gastaud along with head curators, festival director Pituka Ortega Heilbron and Iff Panama industry head Karla Quintero, selected five projects out of 13 applications this year.
Reflecting on the criteria they used to choose the finalists, Ortega Heilbron said: “Aside from quality, we seek new voices that will represent our region. Central America is influenced by U.S. and European cultures so these mélange of cultures makes for a unique identity; we’re looking for projects that speak to our identity as Central American and Caribbean.”
“Our region’s cinema is often overlooked, but it has so much vibrance and power; even with the pandemic, our filmmakers were generating new cinema,...
A jury led by Diana Sánchez, Marcelo Quesada and Paula Gastaud along with head curators, festival director Pituka Ortega Heilbron and Iff Panama industry head Karla Quintero, selected five projects out of 13 applications this year.
Reflecting on the criteria they used to choose the finalists, Ortega Heilbron said: “Aside from quality, we seek new voices that will represent our region. Central America is influenced by U.S. and European cultures so these mélange of cultures makes for a unique identity; we’re looking for projects that speak to our identity as Central American and Caribbean.”
“Our region’s cinema is often overlooked, but it has so much vibrance and power; even with the pandemic, our filmmakers were generating new cinema,...
- 12/3/2021
- by Anna Marie de la Fuente
- Variety Film + TV
Tiff has come and gone. Masses of Canadians attend the festival which is what gives it such a special atmosphere. In Cannes, only the industry attends the festival; the public sets up chairs and ladders to watch the red carpet galas and take pictures. But here the public is as much a part of the festival as the industry.Tiff Bell Lightbox
The industry action which consists of buying and selling of film rights takes place at the Hyatt Hotel on King Street West. The screenings for both public and industry are down the street at the Tiff Bell Lightbox and around the corner at the Scotia Multiplex. The dense mingling of public and industry at these venues and on the street itself which is closed to traffic for the first weekend but is open to pedestrians, photo-op spots, food trucks creates a festive bevvy of activity to the city.
The industry action which consists of buying and selling of film rights takes place at the Hyatt Hotel on King Street West. The screenings for both public and industry are down the street at the Tiff Bell Lightbox and around the corner at the Scotia Multiplex. The dense mingling of public and industry at these venues and on the street itself which is closed to traffic for the first weekend but is open to pedestrians, photo-op spots, food trucks creates a festive bevvy of activity to the city.
- 9/18/2017
- by Sydney Levine
- Sydney's Buzz
Panama is more than Paper. It is People, Culture, Music, Dance, Movies, Work, Love, Pain and Passion.
Pituka Ortega-Heilbron is not only the director of the International Film Festival of Panama, she is first and foremost, a producer and director of both fiction and non-fiction features.
Two years ago in Cannes I wrote about her film “Panama Canal Stories” (Read it here).
This year at the Iff Panama, I saw her film “The Route”/ "La ruta” about the metropolitan bus system of Panama City. Told in an impressionistic way this documentary captures the raucous spirit of Panama and its people, music, art and especially depicts the hard work of those who sustain a city that grows almost recklessly.
“Panama is more than paper”, Victor, one of these people of the city, said to me at the closing night party where we danced to a DJ, Miles-like trumpeter and two drummers. And he is right.
As I walked around Panama City which is rapidly losing its poorer neighborhoods in favor of beautifully reconstructed colonial buildings for business and tourism, I visited two churches on Sunday and was deeply moved by the people praying, receiving communion and greeting their neighbors and the strangers among them (me) with warm handshakes. These are the people depicted in “La ruta” with a great affection by Ortega-Heilbron.
This follows several ordinary Panamanians on their way to work, and in doing so emphasizes the enormous, sometimes fatal, problems Panama City continues to experience with its desperately needed public transit system.
After seeing this movie, I will never look at those crazily painted buses called “Diablos Rojos” (“Red Devils”) the same way again. And I certainly will never ride in one. When I was in Cuba, I had to have the experience once of riding “the camel”, as they called their buses at that time, buses they rated “R for sex and violence”. But I will leave the Panamanian buses to the Panamanians, like the three people depicted in this film about the masses transported to work in the city from the outskirts of town. For most Panamanians, buses are the only option to get to work and these buses are like time bombs. Their passengers are well aware of their danger but have no choice. Every month people die or get hurt.
In “La Ruta” we meet Alcides Pineda, a 72 year old bus driver, who attended the screening, Lucia Zavala, a woman who wakes and walks and even takes a jitney in the early dawn hours to her bus which takes her to work at a food truck where she sells meals to the other early morning workers, and Severino Gonzáles, a construction worker who wakes up at 3:30 A.M. every morning from Monday to Saturday to take the bus to work on one of those skyscrapers now distinguishing the skyline of Panama City. Luckily for the viewer’s sensitivity, it is not one of those which are displacing the poor and moving them farther out from the center of the city where they must return every day in order to service the wealthy city dwellers.
This is the portrait of a nation that claims it is becoming a first world country but which lacks the basic resources to live up to it. But before I call the kettle black, I must look at our own great “melting pot” cities who are cooking up a similar stew: L.A. rents are so high that even the middle class cannot afford them. Mass transportation is still an issue. In New York the subways are century-old dark, dirty, noisy and rude and its neighborhoods are mostly gentrified by now. Paris outskirts are notorious zones of social unrest.
Read John Hopewell’s Variety article on “La Ruta”.
In his article in Variety, John Hopewell mentions that Amnesty International considers adequate public transportation a human right which places “La Ruta” in a position of social advocacy. This film should certainly serve as an advocacy tool and I hope it shows in Amnesty International Film Festival and other festivals of human rights. I see it playing in Urbanworld Film Festival and other urban festivals as a call to people to act on these universal issues the 1% is imposing upon the 99%. Festivals on ecology, urban issues, and even music festivals would be impressed with this city symphony. But, with its dreamy, nostalgic transitions and sublime music, “La ruta” pays loving tribute to the people of the city.
I interviewed Pituka who had this to say: “Most Panamanians still believe things can get better and that they eventually will, even though the 72 year old bus driver (who is now 77) recognizes it is all political. “it’s all a business – the promise to change. Red Devils are the only ones that move people into the city”.
Sl: The music was especially strong…
Pituka Ortega-Heilbron: At the beginning of the film we used 1981 footage with 80s music. The opening song with the aerial shoot is called Aguarrás and it is by Señor Loop and the song at the end was by The Weather Report, by Lilo Sánchez. While some of the music is composed by Sr. Loop, other songs are interpreted by other Panamanian musicians and created by Spanish-speaking composers that hail from Spain to Cuba to Panama.
Sl: Do the bus drivers own their buses and decorate them themselves?
Pituka Ortega-Heilbron: No, they get a public permit to drive. The painting is done in competitions and there are three or four famous bus painters making “rotolistas” which is a style using air spray and graffiti-like letters.
Sl: Was this a difficult movie to make?
Pituka Ortega-Heilbron: It took eight years to make it. Crews varied from three or four to zero. Six years of shooting meant the Dp was not always available and we used other photographers at times.
Often we had to capture events and visuals as they happened and did not have time to mount a camera on a tripod. Using a “restless camera” was a risky visual tack we took, getting the feeling of being inside the bus.
Editing with the many ideas we captured and wanted to convey was also difficult.
Sl: What was the budget?
Pituka Ortega-Heilbron: It cost $180,000. Most of the money went into music and post.
Sl: How did you raise the money for the film?
Pituka Ortega-Heilbron: Ibermedia, Dicine fund (the Panama Film Fund), Tvn Films (a local TV station) and Cinergia.
Sl: How did you feel about the audience’s reaction?
Pituka Ortega-Heilbron: I heard someone say, “I’m stressed” as they left the theater. I sensed a sadness in the audience. There is a lovelessness toward these people who live in faraway neighborhoods who must drive so far to get to work and then to return home.
Pituka Ortega-Heilbron is not only the director of the International Film Festival of Panama, she is first and foremost, a producer and director of both fiction and non-fiction features.
Two years ago in Cannes I wrote about her film “Panama Canal Stories” (Read it here).
This year at the Iff Panama, I saw her film “The Route”/ "La ruta” about the metropolitan bus system of Panama City. Told in an impressionistic way this documentary captures the raucous spirit of Panama and its people, music, art and especially depicts the hard work of those who sustain a city that grows almost recklessly.
“Panama is more than paper”, Victor, one of these people of the city, said to me at the closing night party where we danced to a DJ, Miles-like trumpeter and two drummers. And he is right.
As I walked around Panama City which is rapidly losing its poorer neighborhoods in favor of beautifully reconstructed colonial buildings for business and tourism, I visited two churches on Sunday and was deeply moved by the people praying, receiving communion and greeting their neighbors and the strangers among them (me) with warm handshakes. These are the people depicted in “La ruta” with a great affection by Ortega-Heilbron.
This follows several ordinary Panamanians on their way to work, and in doing so emphasizes the enormous, sometimes fatal, problems Panama City continues to experience with its desperately needed public transit system.
After seeing this movie, I will never look at those crazily painted buses called “Diablos Rojos” (“Red Devils”) the same way again. And I certainly will never ride in one. When I was in Cuba, I had to have the experience once of riding “the camel”, as they called their buses at that time, buses they rated “R for sex and violence”. But I will leave the Panamanian buses to the Panamanians, like the three people depicted in this film about the masses transported to work in the city from the outskirts of town. For most Panamanians, buses are the only option to get to work and these buses are like time bombs. Their passengers are well aware of their danger but have no choice. Every month people die or get hurt.
In “La Ruta” we meet Alcides Pineda, a 72 year old bus driver, who attended the screening, Lucia Zavala, a woman who wakes and walks and even takes a jitney in the early dawn hours to her bus which takes her to work at a food truck where she sells meals to the other early morning workers, and Severino Gonzáles, a construction worker who wakes up at 3:30 A.M. every morning from Monday to Saturday to take the bus to work on one of those skyscrapers now distinguishing the skyline of Panama City. Luckily for the viewer’s sensitivity, it is not one of those which are displacing the poor and moving them farther out from the center of the city where they must return every day in order to service the wealthy city dwellers.
This is the portrait of a nation that claims it is becoming a first world country but which lacks the basic resources to live up to it. But before I call the kettle black, I must look at our own great “melting pot” cities who are cooking up a similar stew: L.A. rents are so high that even the middle class cannot afford them. Mass transportation is still an issue. In New York the subways are century-old dark, dirty, noisy and rude and its neighborhoods are mostly gentrified by now. Paris outskirts are notorious zones of social unrest.
Read John Hopewell’s Variety article on “La Ruta”.
In his article in Variety, John Hopewell mentions that Amnesty International considers adequate public transportation a human right which places “La Ruta” in a position of social advocacy. This film should certainly serve as an advocacy tool and I hope it shows in Amnesty International Film Festival and other festivals of human rights. I see it playing in Urbanworld Film Festival and other urban festivals as a call to people to act on these universal issues the 1% is imposing upon the 99%. Festivals on ecology, urban issues, and even music festivals would be impressed with this city symphony. But, with its dreamy, nostalgic transitions and sublime music, “La ruta” pays loving tribute to the people of the city.
I interviewed Pituka who had this to say: “Most Panamanians still believe things can get better and that they eventually will, even though the 72 year old bus driver (who is now 77) recognizes it is all political. “it’s all a business – the promise to change. Red Devils are the only ones that move people into the city”.
Sl: The music was especially strong…
Pituka Ortega-Heilbron: At the beginning of the film we used 1981 footage with 80s music. The opening song with the aerial shoot is called Aguarrás and it is by Señor Loop and the song at the end was by The Weather Report, by Lilo Sánchez. While some of the music is composed by Sr. Loop, other songs are interpreted by other Panamanian musicians and created by Spanish-speaking composers that hail from Spain to Cuba to Panama.
Sl: Do the bus drivers own their buses and decorate them themselves?
Pituka Ortega-Heilbron: No, they get a public permit to drive. The painting is done in competitions and there are three or four famous bus painters making “rotolistas” which is a style using air spray and graffiti-like letters.
Sl: Was this a difficult movie to make?
Pituka Ortega-Heilbron: It took eight years to make it. Crews varied from three or four to zero. Six years of shooting meant the Dp was not always available and we used other photographers at times.
Often we had to capture events and visuals as they happened and did not have time to mount a camera on a tripod. Using a “restless camera” was a risky visual tack we took, getting the feeling of being inside the bus.
Editing with the many ideas we captured and wanted to convey was also difficult.
Sl: What was the budget?
Pituka Ortega-Heilbron: It cost $180,000. Most of the money went into music and post.
Sl: How did you raise the money for the film?
Pituka Ortega-Heilbron: Ibermedia, Dicine fund (the Panama Film Fund), Tvn Films (a local TV station) and Cinergia.
Sl: How did you feel about the audience’s reaction?
Pituka Ortega-Heilbron: I heard someone say, “I’m stressed” as they left the theater. I sensed a sadness in the audience. There is a lovelessness toward these people who live in faraway neighborhoods who must drive so far to get to work and then to return home.
- 4/18/2016
- by Sydney Levine
- Sydney's Buzz
An exponential surge in the quantity and quality of films is continuing to come out of Latin America. (Hence my urge to write two books on the subject, the next to come out this fall.)
Mexico's output of 140 films, the highest in its glorious if erratic film history, has been accompanied by an explosion of the number of top ranking directors (Alejandro G. Iñárritu, Alfonso Cuarón,Guillermo del Toro), DOPs (Emmanuel Lubezki), actors (Eugenio Derbez, Gael García Bernal), producers, below the line, etc; major blockbusters (“Instructions Not Included”, “The Noble Family”), and festivals in every state of The United States of Mexico from Chiapas, Morelia, Cuernavaca, Oaxaca, Baja, Guadalajara, Puerta Vallarta, Acapulco, etc. What a way to see Mexico through its films and film festivals! USA's partnership in the cross-border cultural achievements of Mexico unites our two countries in culture, a great alliance which benefits us perhaps more than it does them...but that is another article.
Argentina continues, in spite of its erratic politics and economy, to keep its production steady as it always has and continues export the largest number of arthouse cinema of Latin America, Daniel Burman’s "The Tenth Man" being its latest, with Kino Lorber picking it up for U.S. and Canada. Argentina's Latam market, Ventana Sur, in partnership with the Cannes Marché, is the strongest and best market of Latin America for Latino films.
Colombia's systematic, steady work at creating a film culture is paying off in a tremendous outflow of award winning arthouse, indigenous (Ciro Guerra's "Embrace of the Serpent" whose Isa Films Boutique sold to Oscilloscope for U.S., Interior 13 Cine for Mexico, Alfa Films for Argentina, Diaphana Films for France, Mfa Filmdistribution for Germany, Magyarhangya for Hungary, Peccadillo Pictures for U.K.,trigon-film for Switzerland, Natlys for Denmark, Diaphana for France, Alambique for Portugal) , Afro-diaspora ("La Playa DC" whose Isa Cineplex sold it for U.S. to Artmattan Productions, Canada to K Films Amerique, Colombia to Cineplex, France to Jour2fete; and "La Sirga" which Cineplex licensed to Film Movement for U.S., for Colombia to Cineplex, France to Zootrope Films ) and genre films.
Tiny Uruguay has strong films by doubly strong producers like Mariana Secco whose strength at carving out a niche equals the work of Wonder Woman. Guatamala, Paraguay, Peru and Cuba are showing the world their undeniable accomplishments as well.
Central America, long denied its own voice -- first because United States and United Fruit created banana republics out of them, then by the trade in drugs and now by exporting gang members to their parents' countries – all of which has resulted in creating nations of violence and poverty -- is now experiencing the thrill of creating sustainable film economies.
Will Costa Rica prevail? To its advantage, it has not been a part of the violent cycle of drugs and gangs) and its stability and economy are able to sustain growth if the government creates cinema laws to help it along. The film writer María Lourdes Cortés from Costa Rica is the most articulate advocate of Central American Cinema and has established Cinergia, Central America's only homemade film promotion, training, dissemination and funding organ. The astoundingly prolific young producer, Marcela Esquivel, whose "Red Princesses" brought Costa Rica to the world's attention as two frontrunners in Costa Rica's race is another promient voice from Costa Rica. Esquivel's Cuban-Costa Rican coproduction “August”/ "Agosto" (Isa: FiGa) was nurtured by Cannes's Fabrique des Cinemas du Monde and was recently in Ficg’s Coproduction Market along with her project “The Ballroom”/ “El Baile y el salon” about to start production.
Or will Panama prevail? Its Canal has just doubled in size and is a center for international trade to such a degree that China itself is challenging it by tearing up the rain forest of Nicaragua in order to build its own canal.
Panama, with its eye on taking a lead as the internet hub for Latin America, Panama whose Canal creates a Cuba-u.S.-China triangle for trade, Panama whose close history with U.S., its same time zone location with U.S., its direct flights to U.S., its central position for Israeli businesses fleeing the instability of the Mid East, Panama may well come out ahead of Costa Rica. Yes, well there are also the "Panama Papers" whose discovery has come since I first wrote this article. But I don't think this latest revelation of the wealthiest and greediest 1% will put a stop to Panama's growth. These are the two horses I am putting my money on.
I am now at the 5th Panama Film Festival, long headed by the much acclaimed Pituka Ortega-Heilbron and headed on the programming and industry fronts by the Toronto Ff vet Diana Sanchez. Covering it in all its diversity to see if it furthers the odds against the Costa Rica International Film Festival has not been disappointing. Also here is the longtime Costa Rica advisor, 20-year Sundance Film Festival industry vet, Nicole Guillemet. Criff is now, reportedly finally being stabilized by the installation of a permanent producer also attending Iff Panama.
Panama is also premiering six of its own films. Comprised of three documentaries and three fiction films, this year’s Panamanian pictures portray the constant struggle of minorities, problematic life in the city, the search for one’s identity, and unresolved past events, exploring numerous socio-cultural issues living in the isthmus of Panama. Comedy will not be missed.
“Salsipuedes”, co-directed by Ricardo Aguilar and Manolito Rodríguez is about Andrés Pimienta, a young neighborhood boy from Panama who is sent to the United States to remain as far away as possible from his troubled homeland and his father Boby, a boxing ex-champion now serving time in prison. Andrés returns to Panama ten years later to attend his grandfather’s burial, where he meets again with Boby-- a reunion that transforms Andres’ destiny.
“Time to Love, A Backstage Tale”/ "Es la hora de enamorarse", a documentary directed by Guido Bilbao, is the true story of a group of young actors with Down Syndrome who courageously mount the classic Panamanian play La Cucarachita Mandinga, without any previous experience on stage. Many thought it unlikely that they would manage to memorize lines, learn choreography or capture the attention of the public. The artistic process is unveiled as Bilbao shows the intimate world of these young aspiring actors, along with their fears, hopes, and daily struggles.
“Drifting Away”/ "A la deriva", a documentary film directed by Miguel I. González is an expose of the healthcare system in Panama in 2006 when it mistakenly created and distributed over 200,000 jars of a common flu remedy, made of a substance named diethylene glycol used in the automotive industry. This caused the mass poisoning of patients, mostly resulting in permanent illness or even death. This notorious case involved companies in China, Spain and Panama. Highlighted are the lives of Iris, Milagros, and Briseida, three women who were severely affected by the poison, both physically and emotionally telling stories of their inner conflicts, as well as their patience, desperation, solitude, and their yearning to be healthy again.
“The Route”/ "La ruta" is Pituka Ortega-Heilbron’s new documentary.
Every morning from Monday to Saturday Severino González, a construction worker, wakes up at 3:30 A.M. to take the bus to work. For most Panamanians, buses are their only option to get to work and sustain a city that grows so recklessly. Yet these buses are like time bombs, its passengers well-aware of its danger but ignorant of its countdown. Every month people die or get hurt, and Severino knows this, but he has no other choice as he will show us through his everyday bus route and his life. This is the portrait of a nation that claims it is becoming a first world country but lacks the basic resources to live up to it.
“The Check”/ "El cheque" is Arturo Montenegro’s first feature film. It is a Panamanian comedy taking place in the midst of the chaos that haunts the Vinda household. A wild and vigilant vegetarian spirit with massive eyes carrying the name of Dominga changes their lives in unimaginable ways. In her stay with the Vindas, Dominga’s fuss and madness becomes the joy and fervor of the family, except with the household’s spoiled dog, Claudia, who’s the only one aware of Dominga’s secret. Everything seems to work fine until a check raises a debate about identity, happiness, trust and the great beyond.
“Kenke”, directed by Enrique Pérez Him, concerns a professional and successful young man, Josué who accepts the family challenge to help his cousin Kenny get away from marijuana. Unbeknownst to the rest of his family, he too shares this vice. Together Josué and Kenny face a society ruled by double standards and other addictions.
Even if only one of these films is directed by a woman, and that woman is the festival’s own director, it is still noticeable that in all this exciting activity of festivals and countries growing culturally, that women are in the majority taking the lead in innovating and establishing these cultural outposts in counties that have been brought to their knees formerly by the macho impositions of capitalism in its ugliest forms of colonialism and imperialism.
As a side remark here, we are witnessing similar activitiy in Mena's (Middle East and North Africa) Gulf State of Qatar with the Doha Film Institute’s CEO Fatma Al Remaihi and in the Emirate State of Dubai with its long standing Dubai Film Festival led by Managing Director, Shivani Pandya.
Culture, always the first to go when the men get going using armaments to build wealth, is now finding that with the potential strength of 51% of the world’s population behind it, it just might get the upper hand for the first time in "civilized" society. Also we are witnessing the Lgbt community's creative might also being exercised on the side of culture. This always original, innovative segment of world society helps enormously in crossing the lines drawn in the sand by the white male establishment.
So we will put our eye upon Panama, the next possible contender for The Latin American Prize for Excellence in Cinematic Experience.
Mexico's output of 140 films, the highest in its glorious if erratic film history, has been accompanied by an explosion of the number of top ranking directors (Alejandro G. Iñárritu, Alfonso Cuarón,Guillermo del Toro), DOPs (Emmanuel Lubezki), actors (Eugenio Derbez, Gael García Bernal), producers, below the line, etc; major blockbusters (“Instructions Not Included”, “The Noble Family”), and festivals in every state of The United States of Mexico from Chiapas, Morelia, Cuernavaca, Oaxaca, Baja, Guadalajara, Puerta Vallarta, Acapulco, etc. What a way to see Mexico through its films and film festivals! USA's partnership in the cross-border cultural achievements of Mexico unites our two countries in culture, a great alliance which benefits us perhaps more than it does them...but that is another article.
Argentina continues, in spite of its erratic politics and economy, to keep its production steady as it always has and continues export the largest number of arthouse cinema of Latin America, Daniel Burman’s "The Tenth Man" being its latest, with Kino Lorber picking it up for U.S. and Canada. Argentina's Latam market, Ventana Sur, in partnership with the Cannes Marché, is the strongest and best market of Latin America for Latino films.
Colombia's systematic, steady work at creating a film culture is paying off in a tremendous outflow of award winning arthouse, indigenous (Ciro Guerra's "Embrace of the Serpent" whose Isa Films Boutique sold to Oscilloscope for U.S., Interior 13 Cine for Mexico, Alfa Films for Argentina, Diaphana Films for France, Mfa Filmdistribution for Germany, Magyarhangya for Hungary, Peccadillo Pictures for U.K.,trigon-film for Switzerland, Natlys for Denmark, Diaphana for France, Alambique for Portugal) , Afro-diaspora ("La Playa DC" whose Isa Cineplex sold it for U.S. to Artmattan Productions, Canada to K Films Amerique, Colombia to Cineplex, France to Jour2fete; and "La Sirga" which Cineplex licensed to Film Movement for U.S., for Colombia to Cineplex, France to Zootrope Films ) and genre films.
Tiny Uruguay has strong films by doubly strong producers like Mariana Secco whose strength at carving out a niche equals the work of Wonder Woman. Guatamala, Paraguay, Peru and Cuba are showing the world their undeniable accomplishments as well.
Central America, long denied its own voice -- first because United States and United Fruit created banana republics out of them, then by the trade in drugs and now by exporting gang members to their parents' countries – all of which has resulted in creating nations of violence and poverty -- is now experiencing the thrill of creating sustainable film economies.
Will Costa Rica prevail? To its advantage, it has not been a part of the violent cycle of drugs and gangs) and its stability and economy are able to sustain growth if the government creates cinema laws to help it along. The film writer María Lourdes Cortés from Costa Rica is the most articulate advocate of Central American Cinema and has established Cinergia, Central America's only homemade film promotion, training, dissemination and funding organ. The astoundingly prolific young producer, Marcela Esquivel, whose "Red Princesses" brought Costa Rica to the world's attention as two frontrunners in Costa Rica's race is another promient voice from Costa Rica. Esquivel's Cuban-Costa Rican coproduction “August”/ "Agosto" (Isa: FiGa) was nurtured by Cannes's Fabrique des Cinemas du Monde and was recently in Ficg’s Coproduction Market along with her project “The Ballroom”/ “El Baile y el salon” about to start production.
Or will Panama prevail? Its Canal has just doubled in size and is a center for international trade to such a degree that China itself is challenging it by tearing up the rain forest of Nicaragua in order to build its own canal.
Panama, with its eye on taking a lead as the internet hub for Latin America, Panama whose Canal creates a Cuba-u.S.-China triangle for trade, Panama whose close history with U.S., its same time zone location with U.S., its direct flights to U.S., its central position for Israeli businesses fleeing the instability of the Mid East, Panama may well come out ahead of Costa Rica. Yes, well there are also the "Panama Papers" whose discovery has come since I first wrote this article. But I don't think this latest revelation of the wealthiest and greediest 1% will put a stop to Panama's growth. These are the two horses I am putting my money on.
I am now at the 5th Panama Film Festival, long headed by the much acclaimed Pituka Ortega-Heilbron and headed on the programming and industry fronts by the Toronto Ff vet Diana Sanchez. Covering it in all its diversity to see if it furthers the odds against the Costa Rica International Film Festival has not been disappointing. Also here is the longtime Costa Rica advisor, 20-year Sundance Film Festival industry vet, Nicole Guillemet. Criff is now, reportedly finally being stabilized by the installation of a permanent producer also attending Iff Panama.
Panama is also premiering six of its own films. Comprised of three documentaries and three fiction films, this year’s Panamanian pictures portray the constant struggle of minorities, problematic life in the city, the search for one’s identity, and unresolved past events, exploring numerous socio-cultural issues living in the isthmus of Panama. Comedy will not be missed.
“Salsipuedes”, co-directed by Ricardo Aguilar and Manolito Rodríguez is about Andrés Pimienta, a young neighborhood boy from Panama who is sent to the United States to remain as far away as possible from his troubled homeland and his father Boby, a boxing ex-champion now serving time in prison. Andrés returns to Panama ten years later to attend his grandfather’s burial, where he meets again with Boby-- a reunion that transforms Andres’ destiny.
“Time to Love, A Backstage Tale”/ "Es la hora de enamorarse", a documentary directed by Guido Bilbao, is the true story of a group of young actors with Down Syndrome who courageously mount the classic Panamanian play La Cucarachita Mandinga, without any previous experience on stage. Many thought it unlikely that they would manage to memorize lines, learn choreography or capture the attention of the public. The artistic process is unveiled as Bilbao shows the intimate world of these young aspiring actors, along with their fears, hopes, and daily struggles.
“Drifting Away”/ "A la deriva", a documentary film directed by Miguel I. González is an expose of the healthcare system in Panama in 2006 when it mistakenly created and distributed over 200,000 jars of a common flu remedy, made of a substance named diethylene glycol used in the automotive industry. This caused the mass poisoning of patients, mostly resulting in permanent illness or even death. This notorious case involved companies in China, Spain and Panama. Highlighted are the lives of Iris, Milagros, and Briseida, three women who were severely affected by the poison, both physically and emotionally telling stories of their inner conflicts, as well as their patience, desperation, solitude, and their yearning to be healthy again.
“The Route”/ "La ruta" is Pituka Ortega-Heilbron’s new documentary.
Every morning from Monday to Saturday Severino González, a construction worker, wakes up at 3:30 A.M. to take the bus to work. For most Panamanians, buses are their only option to get to work and sustain a city that grows so recklessly. Yet these buses are like time bombs, its passengers well-aware of its danger but ignorant of its countdown. Every month people die or get hurt, and Severino knows this, but he has no other choice as he will show us through his everyday bus route and his life. This is the portrait of a nation that claims it is becoming a first world country but lacks the basic resources to live up to it.
“The Check”/ "El cheque" is Arturo Montenegro’s first feature film. It is a Panamanian comedy taking place in the midst of the chaos that haunts the Vinda household. A wild and vigilant vegetarian spirit with massive eyes carrying the name of Dominga changes their lives in unimaginable ways. In her stay with the Vindas, Dominga’s fuss and madness becomes the joy and fervor of the family, except with the household’s spoiled dog, Claudia, who’s the only one aware of Dominga’s secret. Everything seems to work fine until a check raises a debate about identity, happiness, trust and the great beyond.
“Kenke”, directed by Enrique Pérez Him, concerns a professional and successful young man, Josué who accepts the family challenge to help his cousin Kenny get away from marijuana. Unbeknownst to the rest of his family, he too shares this vice. Together Josué and Kenny face a society ruled by double standards and other addictions.
Even if only one of these films is directed by a woman, and that woman is the festival’s own director, it is still noticeable that in all this exciting activity of festivals and countries growing culturally, that women are in the majority taking the lead in innovating and establishing these cultural outposts in counties that have been brought to their knees formerly by the macho impositions of capitalism in its ugliest forms of colonialism and imperialism.
As a side remark here, we are witnessing similar activitiy in Mena's (Middle East and North Africa) Gulf State of Qatar with the Doha Film Institute’s CEO Fatma Al Remaihi and in the Emirate State of Dubai with its long standing Dubai Film Festival led by Managing Director, Shivani Pandya.
Culture, always the first to go when the men get going using armaments to build wealth, is now finding that with the potential strength of 51% of the world’s population behind it, it just might get the upper hand for the first time in "civilized" society. Also we are witnessing the Lgbt community's creative might also being exercised on the side of culture. This always original, innovative segment of world society helps enormously in crossing the lines drawn in the sand by the white male establishment.
So we will put our eye upon Panama, the next possible contender for The Latin American Prize for Excellence in Cinematic Experience.
- 3/26/2016
- by Sydney Levine
- Sydney's Buzz
Asif Kapadia’s Amy, Anna Muylaert’s The Second Mother, Abderrahmane Sissako’s Timbuktu, John Maclean’s Slow West and Céline Sciamma’s Girlhood are among the fiction and documentary line-up.
The fiction selections are: Chus Gutiérrez’s Ciudad Deliro (Colombia); Chaitanya Tamhane’s Court (India); Miguel Llansó’s Crumbs (Ethiopia-Spain); Girlhood (France), Mario Crespo’s Gone With The River (Venezuela); Ana V. Bojórquez, Lucía Carreras’ The Greatest House In The World (Guatemala-Mexico); Alonso Ruizpalacios’ Güeros (Mexico); Rebecca Johnson’s Honeytrap (UK); Shonali Bose’s Margarita, With A Straw (India); Jean-Paul Civeyrac’s My Friend Victoria (France); and Carolina Borrero, Pinky Mon, Luis Franco, Abner Benaim and Pituka Ortega Heilbron’s Panama Canal Stories (Panama).
The section continues with: Nagesh Kukunoor’s Rainbow (India); Debbie Tucker Green’s Second Coming (UK); The Second Mother (Brazil, pictured); Walter Tournier’s Selkirk, The Real Robinson Crusoe (Uruguay-Argentina-Chile-Spain); John Maclean’s Slow West (UK-New Zealand); Jim Chuchu’s Stories Of Our Lives (Kenya-South...
The fiction selections are: Chus Gutiérrez’s Ciudad Deliro (Colombia); Chaitanya Tamhane’s Court (India); Miguel Llansó’s Crumbs (Ethiopia-Spain); Girlhood (France), Mario Crespo’s Gone With The River (Venezuela); Ana V. Bojórquez, Lucía Carreras’ The Greatest House In The World (Guatemala-Mexico); Alonso Ruizpalacios’ Güeros (Mexico); Rebecca Johnson’s Honeytrap (UK); Shonali Bose’s Margarita, With A Straw (India); Jean-Paul Civeyrac’s My Friend Victoria (France); and Carolina Borrero, Pinky Mon, Luis Franco, Abner Benaim and Pituka Ortega Heilbron’s Panama Canal Stories (Panama).
The section continues with: Nagesh Kukunoor’s Rainbow (India); Debbie Tucker Green’s Second Coming (UK); The Second Mother (Brazil, pictured); Walter Tournier’s Selkirk, The Real Robinson Crusoe (Uruguay-Argentina-Chile-Spain); John Maclean’s Slow West (UK-New Zealand); Jim Chuchu’s Stories Of Our Lives (Kenya-South...
- 8/19/2015
- by jeremykay67@gmail.com (Jeremy Kay)
- ScreenDaily
Panama’s place in the panoply of Latin American cinema is growing with careful and conscious nurturing. The three films screening in the Cannes Marche 2015 were “Invasion,” which became Panama’s first foreign-language Oscar submission, “Te prometo anarquía” (“I Promise you Anarchy”) a Mexico-Panama-Guatemala coproduction from Guatemalan director Julio Hernández-Cordón that won the Iff Panama’s 1st Primera Mirada for works-in-progress and “Panama Canal Stories” (“Historias del Canal”).
“Invasion," “Panama Canal Stories,” along with “Breaking the Wave” (“Rompiendo la ola”) and “Reinas,” were the four local productions that made a mark commercially at the Panamanian box office in 2014. Thirteen features have been produced in Panama since 2012, compared with just three local productions completed between 2007 and 2012 and two between 2001 and 2007. Panama is growing in productivity as nations rush to invest their capital in the country in anticipation of the enlarged canal which will permit the Chinese cargo ships passage to Latin American and U.S. ports.
Pituka Ortega-Heilbron was one of the five directors of “Panama Canal Stories” whose international premiere in Cannes was an important event for those who knew of its debut. The other directors of the film were Carolina Borrero,Pinky Mon, Luis Franco Brantley, and Abner Benaim, all relative newcomers to directing.
The importance of the film is three fold. For one, the unique history of the Panama Canal and its impact on Panama and the world has never been told. These five Panamanian directors focus their attention on the lives of every day folk directly and from each particular story a universal issue and truth emerges, all of which converge into “freedom”.
A second important aspect of the film is its showcasing new talent.
Carolina Barrero, one of the two female directors in this omnibus, is a talent to watch. Her story, “1913” unfolds with a scene that looks like a stunning Salgado photograph. It then follows a romance which unfolds as the Panama Canal is under construction by a legion of foreigners who come to the site searching for an opportunity of a better life. The majority came from the Antilles, aka West Indies: Jamaica, Barbados, Trinidad + Tobago, Martinique with some European and North Americans. To see the mix of people, most of whom were of African descent and to see how two connected in love was not only interesting and touching, but also bears witness to the budding talent of Carolina Barrero and the star. When Clarice Thompson, played by Lakisha May, as the daughter of the pastor and the canal worker, Philip Clay, exchange a stone inscribed with their names, they set off a violent incident whose violence is promulgated throughout this series of five vignettes and only comes to a full resolution in the fifth sequence, directed by the second woman director, Pituka Ortega Heilbron.
Pituka Heilbron is also one of the three producers (Ileana Novas and Pablo Schverdfinger are the other two) and is the Director of the Panama International Film Festival, an event now approaching its fourth year and gaining an important spot in the Latin American film business.
Another emerging talent to watch is Lakisha May who plays Clarice Thompson in “1913” and Clarice Jones, her great grand daughter in the last segment “2013”, who rediscovers her great grandmother and finds her own voice.
Lakisha May is an actress based in the U.S. whose delicately beautiful Latino African looks and the fire in her acting mark her as an up and coming talent. This Spellman University graduate who received her Mfa in Acting from the American Conservatory Theater in San Francisco in 2010 creates two distinct personalities which are intriguing and attractive, leading the audience into wanting to know more about them, particularly in the final segment where she plays a singer who is not able to perform because of a creative block which is only lifted when she comes to recognize her great grandmother’s legacy.
Key to “Panama Canal Stories”, the great grandmother wrote her memoirs and was also a correspondent for the great Marcus Garvey, the Jamaican political leader ,publisher, journalist, entrepreneur, and orator who was a staunch proponent of the Black Nationalism and Pan-Africanism movements and whose influence in the U.S. is still felt today. And as a side note, check out Lakisha May’s short here. It shows her talent as a polemic filmmaker as well.
Pinky Mon’s story “1950” depicts the discovery of the Panama Canal Zone through the eyes of an American kid who lives with his mother who was recently widowed and drowns her sorrow in alcohol. He witnesses the Anglo-Panamanian tensions first hand with his playmates, first the Anglo children of the Canal Zone, which in the 1950s numbered some 65,000 people living in privileged conditions, and then with the Panamanian boys living on the outskirts of The Zone which included the canal and an area extending five miles on every side of its center, excluding Panama City and Colón which were regarded as U.S. territory.
The separateness and colonial nature of this setup antagonized the Panamanians. In the short time allotted to this segment of the movie, director Pinky Mon captures a feeling of time and space which is recognizable but which depicts an event we have never actually considered before. If the audience is like me, as a U.S. citizen I am so used to Panama being a satellite of the U.S. and while I recall U.S. taking down Noriega (who we put there in the first place) for his corruption, I know very little about Panama itself. The child and his mother eventually return to her hometown in the U.S. and he feels as so many did, that he will always miss this “lost paradise”.
Luis Franco Brantley’s story “1964” takes place in the midst of a fatal protest that took place on January 9th, as it is filtered through the eyes of two young people who belong to opposite sides of the fight. The tension it portrays which in reality resulted in the shooting death of 24 Panamanians and the government of Panama’s breaking diplomatic relations with the U.S., the first time a Latin American country took such a measure, is flawed by the story itself and the acting of Hannah Schöbitz in her first role, as an American white girl who has a brief affair with a young Panamanian photographer played by Ivan González.
Abner Benaim’s story “1977” portrays the life of a taxi cab driver hired by the U.S. to act as chauffeur for two U.S. State Department executives and who is a spy for the Panamanian government during the negotiation of the Torrijos–Carter Treaty. Again, previously unknown views of the conflicts U.S. faced in its colonization of Latin America makes an interesting backdrop to what unfolds. The problem of this segment is the inconsistencies in the story itself.
The good fellowship between the driver and his two Americans and the relationship with his Panamanian “boss” are both so ambiguous that the story often seems more like a comedy played with a heavy hand rather than a suspenseful spy story. It affect is confusing. The two actors I would like to see more of however are the extremely handsome Luis Manuel Barrios who is the driver and his “boss” who obviously thinks he is a total fool, José Angel Murillo. Both seemed out of their element in this story but both have a magnetism on the screen which holds up throughout this odd story.
Pituka Ortega Heilbron’s closing story examines the Panama Canal in 2013 and its expansion project (also called the Third Set of Locks Project) which will double the capabilities of the Canal by 2016. Clarice Thompson of “1913” returns here as Clarice Jones who in discovering her heritage finds her voice in a literal sense. “2013” is metaphoric; not only does Clarisse finds her voice-- a nation finds its voice,” Producer Heilbron says. “It was the hardest story to come up with of the five stories.” “2013” completes the circle begun in “1913” and nicely rounds out the 100 year history of Panama and the Panama Canal.
Somewhat conventional filmmaking is offset by stories which are unique and even riveting as they uncover a history of the Panama Canal which expands beyond what little we may know of the country’s history. Under the stewardship first of the French and then of the North Americans intent on building a canal which cost many lives, 25,000 of the 75,000 working on the Canal died from malaria, Yellow Fever (Remember our own history lessons about Dr. Walter Reed discovering the cause of Yellow Fever?), landslides, explosions and horrid living conditions.
The third point of importance for this film telling stories that are particular to a segment of society we have not seen on screen before is the universality of their stories. The people who were there building the Canal enlighten us about what personal conflicts they themselves were experiencing. The audience of industry professionals left the screening room with feelings of surprise and pleasure for “discovering” this film. While this privately financed $2.5 million film is not an “art film” nor is it a “popular”, that is “studio” film, it will appeal most to the educated and middle class audiences who delight in new stories as they pertain to U.S. and its policies. This includes segments of the white arthouse audience as well as the African diaspora wherever it may be and to the Latino audiences sharing such interests. If it is aimed for audiences in the U.S. I would estimate a box office success at $500,000 - $1,000,000 with proper marketing via trailers in theaters and online along with wide social networking. The beauty of the place and actors might even surprise us with higher grosses. Having stated this, I await news on its distribution.
“Invasion," “Panama Canal Stories,” along with “Breaking the Wave” (“Rompiendo la ola”) and “Reinas,” were the four local productions that made a mark commercially at the Panamanian box office in 2014. Thirteen features have been produced in Panama since 2012, compared with just three local productions completed between 2007 and 2012 and two between 2001 and 2007. Panama is growing in productivity as nations rush to invest their capital in the country in anticipation of the enlarged canal which will permit the Chinese cargo ships passage to Latin American and U.S. ports.
Pituka Ortega-Heilbron was one of the five directors of “Panama Canal Stories” whose international premiere in Cannes was an important event for those who knew of its debut. The other directors of the film were Carolina Borrero,Pinky Mon, Luis Franco Brantley, and Abner Benaim, all relative newcomers to directing.
The importance of the film is three fold. For one, the unique history of the Panama Canal and its impact on Panama and the world has never been told. These five Panamanian directors focus their attention on the lives of every day folk directly and from each particular story a universal issue and truth emerges, all of which converge into “freedom”.
A second important aspect of the film is its showcasing new talent.
Carolina Barrero, one of the two female directors in this omnibus, is a talent to watch. Her story, “1913” unfolds with a scene that looks like a stunning Salgado photograph. It then follows a romance which unfolds as the Panama Canal is under construction by a legion of foreigners who come to the site searching for an opportunity of a better life. The majority came from the Antilles, aka West Indies: Jamaica, Barbados, Trinidad + Tobago, Martinique with some European and North Americans. To see the mix of people, most of whom were of African descent and to see how two connected in love was not only interesting and touching, but also bears witness to the budding talent of Carolina Barrero and the star. When Clarice Thompson, played by Lakisha May, as the daughter of the pastor and the canal worker, Philip Clay, exchange a stone inscribed with their names, they set off a violent incident whose violence is promulgated throughout this series of five vignettes and only comes to a full resolution in the fifth sequence, directed by the second woman director, Pituka Ortega Heilbron.
Pituka Heilbron is also one of the three producers (Ileana Novas and Pablo Schverdfinger are the other two) and is the Director of the Panama International Film Festival, an event now approaching its fourth year and gaining an important spot in the Latin American film business.
Another emerging talent to watch is Lakisha May who plays Clarice Thompson in “1913” and Clarice Jones, her great grand daughter in the last segment “2013”, who rediscovers her great grandmother and finds her own voice.
Lakisha May is an actress based in the U.S. whose delicately beautiful Latino African looks and the fire in her acting mark her as an up and coming talent. This Spellman University graduate who received her Mfa in Acting from the American Conservatory Theater in San Francisco in 2010 creates two distinct personalities which are intriguing and attractive, leading the audience into wanting to know more about them, particularly in the final segment where she plays a singer who is not able to perform because of a creative block which is only lifted when she comes to recognize her great grandmother’s legacy.
Key to “Panama Canal Stories”, the great grandmother wrote her memoirs and was also a correspondent for the great Marcus Garvey, the Jamaican political leader ,publisher, journalist, entrepreneur, and orator who was a staunch proponent of the Black Nationalism and Pan-Africanism movements and whose influence in the U.S. is still felt today. And as a side note, check out Lakisha May’s short here. It shows her talent as a polemic filmmaker as well.
Pinky Mon’s story “1950” depicts the discovery of the Panama Canal Zone through the eyes of an American kid who lives with his mother who was recently widowed and drowns her sorrow in alcohol. He witnesses the Anglo-Panamanian tensions first hand with his playmates, first the Anglo children of the Canal Zone, which in the 1950s numbered some 65,000 people living in privileged conditions, and then with the Panamanian boys living on the outskirts of The Zone which included the canal and an area extending five miles on every side of its center, excluding Panama City and Colón which were regarded as U.S. territory.
The separateness and colonial nature of this setup antagonized the Panamanians. In the short time allotted to this segment of the movie, director Pinky Mon captures a feeling of time and space which is recognizable but which depicts an event we have never actually considered before. If the audience is like me, as a U.S. citizen I am so used to Panama being a satellite of the U.S. and while I recall U.S. taking down Noriega (who we put there in the first place) for his corruption, I know very little about Panama itself. The child and his mother eventually return to her hometown in the U.S. and he feels as so many did, that he will always miss this “lost paradise”.
Luis Franco Brantley’s story “1964” takes place in the midst of a fatal protest that took place on January 9th, as it is filtered through the eyes of two young people who belong to opposite sides of the fight. The tension it portrays which in reality resulted in the shooting death of 24 Panamanians and the government of Panama’s breaking diplomatic relations with the U.S., the first time a Latin American country took such a measure, is flawed by the story itself and the acting of Hannah Schöbitz in her first role, as an American white girl who has a brief affair with a young Panamanian photographer played by Ivan González.
Abner Benaim’s story “1977” portrays the life of a taxi cab driver hired by the U.S. to act as chauffeur for two U.S. State Department executives and who is a spy for the Panamanian government during the negotiation of the Torrijos–Carter Treaty. Again, previously unknown views of the conflicts U.S. faced in its colonization of Latin America makes an interesting backdrop to what unfolds. The problem of this segment is the inconsistencies in the story itself.
The good fellowship between the driver and his two Americans and the relationship with his Panamanian “boss” are both so ambiguous that the story often seems more like a comedy played with a heavy hand rather than a suspenseful spy story. It affect is confusing. The two actors I would like to see more of however are the extremely handsome Luis Manuel Barrios who is the driver and his “boss” who obviously thinks he is a total fool, José Angel Murillo. Both seemed out of their element in this story but both have a magnetism on the screen which holds up throughout this odd story.
Pituka Ortega Heilbron’s closing story examines the Panama Canal in 2013 and its expansion project (also called the Third Set of Locks Project) which will double the capabilities of the Canal by 2016. Clarice Thompson of “1913” returns here as Clarice Jones who in discovering her heritage finds her voice in a literal sense. “2013” is metaphoric; not only does Clarisse finds her voice-- a nation finds its voice,” Producer Heilbron says. “It was the hardest story to come up with of the five stories.” “2013” completes the circle begun in “1913” and nicely rounds out the 100 year history of Panama and the Panama Canal.
Somewhat conventional filmmaking is offset by stories which are unique and even riveting as they uncover a history of the Panama Canal which expands beyond what little we may know of the country’s history. Under the stewardship first of the French and then of the North Americans intent on building a canal which cost many lives, 25,000 of the 75,000 working on the Canal died from malaria, Yellow Fever (Remember our own history lessons about Dr. Walter Reed discovering the cause of Yellow Fever?), landslides, explosions and horrid living conditions.
The third point of importance for this film telling stories that are particular to a segment of society we have not seen on screen before is the universality of their stories. The people who were there building the Canal enlighten us about what personal conflicts they themselves were experiencing. The audience of industry professionals left the screening room with feelings of surprise and pleasure for “discovering” this film. While this privately financed $2.5 million film is not an “art film” nor is it a “popular”, that is “studio” film, it will appeal most to the educated and middle class audiences who delight in new stories as they pertain to U.S. and its policies. This includes segments of the white arthouse audience as well as the African diaspora wherever it may be and to the Latino audiences sharing such interests. If it is aimed for audiences in the U.S. I would estimate a box office success at $500,000 - $1,000,000 with proper marketing via trailers in theaters and online along with wide social networking. The beauty of the place and actors might even surprise us with higher grosses. Having stated this, I await news on its distribution.
- 7/15/2015
- by Sydney Levine
- Sydney's Buzz
Karim Aïnouz's Playa del Futuro“Films are interesting when they’re specific.” So said Brazilian filmmaker Karim Aïnouz when asked why he explores identity—queer, national, gender, ethnic—in his films like Madame Satã and his most recent work, the sensuous Playa del Futuro. With his features being the focus of the International Film Festival Panama’s retrospective during its fourth edition, Aïnouz’s comment can also be extended to the fest’s (still evolving) mandate: an emphasis on—and bolstering of—the geographically specific cinemas in Central America. This idea of films defined by borders has increasingly gone out of vogue, as the nation state as it was defined in the 19th and 20th century has all but dissipated with increasing international co-financing and multi-national organizations not recognizing borders (let alone international labor laws). But as Aïnouz notes, this only makes festivals like Iffp more important: “It’s...
- 4/20/2015
- by Kiva Reardon
- MUBI
With its third edition, which concluded on Wednesday, the Panama International Film Festival continued the year-on-year growth that is turning it into one of the region’s most important showcases for Ibero-American cinema.
For the first time this year, the festival played host to Meets, a film market aimed at fostering networks for co-production, sales and distribution of Latin American projects. Panama City was also chosen by Egeda and Fipca as the venue for their first Premios Platino awards, also during the week of the festival.
“Having all these filmmakers in one place has been extraordinary,” says festival director Pituka Ortega Heilbron. “Meets has added to this great vibe around the city. And Premios Platino could have been in so many other locations, in any other week of the year, so we were very honoured that it was here. It all underlines the festival’s growing significance.”
Synergy would seem to be the byword for the emergence...
For the first time this year, the festival played host to Meets, a film market aimed at fostering networks for co-production, sales and distribution of Latin American projects. Panama City was also chosen by Egeda and Fipca as the venue for their first Premios Platino awards, also during the week of the festival.
“Having all these filmmakers in one place has been extraordinary,” says festival director Pituka Ortega Heilbron. “Meets has added to this great vibe around the city. And Premios Platino could have been in so many other locations, in any other week of the year, so we were very honoured that it was here. It all underlines the festival’s growing significance.”
Synergy would seem to be the byword for the emergence...
- 4/10/2014
- ScreenDaily
With its third edition, which concluded on Wednesday, the Panama International Film Festival continued the year-on-year growth that is turning it into one of the region’s most important showcases for Ibero-American cinema.
For the first time this year, the festival played host to Meets, a film market aimed at fostering networks for co-production, sales and distribution of Latin American projects. Panama City was also chosen by Egeda and Fipca as the venue for their first Premios Platino awards, also during the week of the festival.
“Having all these filmmakers in one place has been extraordinary,” says festival director Pituka Ortega Heilbron. “Meets has added to this great vibe around the city. And Premios Platino could have been in so many other locations, in any other week of the year, so we were very honoured that it was here. It all underlines the festival’s growing significance.”
Synergy would seem to be the byword for the emergence...
For the first time this year, the festival played host to Meets, a film market aimed at fostering networks for co-production, sales and distribution of Latin American projects. Panama City was also chosen by Egeda and Fipca as the venue for their first Premios Platino awards, also during the week of the festival.
“Having all these filmmakers in one place has been extraordinary,” says festival director Pituka Ortega Heilbron. “Meets has added to this great vibe around the city. And Premios Platino could have been in so many other locations, in any other week of the year, so we were very honoured that it was here. It all underlines the festival’s growing significance.”
Synergy would seem to be the byword for the emergence...
- 4/10/2014
- ScreenDaily
With its third edition, which concluded on Wednesday, the Panama International Film Festival continued the year-on-year growth that is turning it into one of the region’s most important showcases for Ibero-American cinema.
For the first time this year, the festival played host to Meets, a film market aimed at fostering networks for co-production, sales and distribution of Latin American projects. Panama City was also chosen by Egeda and Fipca as the venue for their first Premios Platino awards, also during the week of the festival.
A Mexican project, The Darkness, won the Meets cash prize of $25,000. The same day, the Dream About the City team learned they had won the film commission’s top production grant of $750,000, around half of their projected $1.5m budget.
Theirs was one of 14 projects to receive grants totalling $22m. Both Invasion and Breaking the Wave [pictured] received production money last year.
“This enables us to complete the path we’ve started out on...
For the first time this year, the festival played host to Meets, a film market aimed at fostering networks for co-production, sales and distribution of Latin American projects. Panama City was also chosen by Egeda and Fipca as the venue for their first Premios Platino awards, also during the week of the festival.
A Mexican project, The Darkness, won the Meets cash prize of $25,000. The same day, the Dream About the City team learned they had won the film commission’s top production grant of $750,000, around half of their projected $1.5m budget.
Theirs was one of 14 projects to receive grants totalling $22m. Both Invasion and Breaking the Wave [pictured] received production money last year.
“This enables us to complete the path we’ve started out on...
- 4/10/2014
- ScreenDaily
A new film festival is helping a Central American country find its voice
Festival name: International Film Festival of Panama
Location: Panama City, Panama
Website: http://iffpanama.org/
Dates: annually, April
About: Panama has an identity crisis. For a century its fortunes have been inextricably linked to the canal, whose billion-dollar revenue bypasses the third of the population living below the poverty line; it still uses the Us dollar, a remnant of the years when its neighbour virtually ran the place; the capital's skyline is dominated by a forest of half-empty skyscrapers, owned by foreign speculators. By all accounts the city is culturally bereft. Although Panamanians are avid filmgoers, their diet consists entirely of Hollywood films.
This has changed with the arrival of the International Film Festival of Panama, which last month concluded its successful second edition. The festival's chief aim is to introduce audiences to the best of world cinema,...
Festival name: International Film Festival of Panama
Location: Panama City, Panama
Website: http://iffpanama.org/
Dates: annually, April
About: Panama has an identity crisis. For a century its fortunes have been inextricably linked to the canal, whose billion-dollar revenue bypasses the third of the population living below the poverty line; it still uses the Us dollar, a remnant of the years when its neighbour virtually ran the place; the capital's skyline is dominated by a forest of half-empty skyscrapers, owned by foreign speculators. By all accounts the city is culturally bereft. Although Panamanians are avid filmgoers, their diet consists entirely of Hollywood films.
This has changed with the arrival of the International Film Festival of Panama, which last month concluded its successful second edition. The festival's chief aim is to introduce audiences to the best of world cinema,...
- 5/10/2013
- by Guardian readers, Demetrios Matheou
- The Guardian - Film News
One of the perks of working in film journalism and being both a passionate and shrewd supporter of film festivals for a decade plus, is that sometimes you’ll receive an offer to cover a newly minted one. So after being invited as a jury member at SXSW this past March, a month later I’ve been invited to cover the 2nd edition the International Film Festival of Panama (April 11th to the 17th). Thanks to its foreign banking coin and commerce investments, world famous for its canal, the sprawling, still developing city is becoming a high-rise central. The resounding first impression one gets from the quick ride on the mostly luxury brand billboard route from the airport to the swanky fest headquarters of the Trump Hotel, is that Panama City is the Dubai of Central America.
While the key to any successful fest is the backdrop, the actual screenings,...
While the key to any successful fest is the backdrop, the actual screenings,...
- 4/12/2013
- by Eric Lavallee
- IONCINEMA.com
Just before The Fighter breaks out into moving-going consciousness, Venezuelan helmer Jonathan Jakubowicz wants us to think about another legend of the boxing world. Best known for helming 2005’s Secuestro Express, Jakubowicz will write, direct and produce, while Gael Garcia Bernal will need to pack on the pounds if he is set to star as the legendary, five-time world boxing champ Roberto Duran in Hands of Stone. Ben Silverman and Jay Weisleder, currently working together on another biopic, Catinflas, will produce the $15 million feature. Robin Duran Iglesias, son of Roberto, will serve as an associate producer while Paul Webster, who worked on The Motorcyle Diaries with Bernal, is on as executive producer. Al Pacino is circling the role of boxing trainer Ray Arcel, and Spanish actor Oscar Jaenada’s name has also been thrown into the mix. The film will be shot both in Panama, Duran’s birthplace, and New York,...
- 11/23/2010
- IONCINEMA.com
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