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Panamanian Félix “Trillo” Guardia’s debut feature documentary “The Sorcerer: Julio Zachrisson” (“El Brujo”), which had its world premiere at Iff Panama, snagged the festival’s prestigious audience award, beating high profile contenders that included Berlinale winner “Pepe,” Mexico’s “Sujo” and Venice winner “Kill the Jockey.”

Produced by Tomás Cortés of Cine Animal and supported by Panama’s Ministry of Culture, the film weaves animation, archival footage and interviews to trace Guardia’s personal journey, fueled by his childhood memories of provocative Panamanian artist Julio Zachrisson’s odd yet captivating artworks.

News also broke during the festival that Dominican Johanné Gómez’s “Sugar Island,” which competed for the audience award, had all North American rights sold to ArtMattan Prods. by its sales agent, Patra Spanou. Gómez’s award-winning feature debut, a docu-fiction hybrid, revolves around Makenya, a Dominican-Haitian teen from a shantytown for sugarcane workers, whose unplanned pregnancy forces her to face adulthood.

Big changes are afoot in Panama’s film industry as a young, dynamic (and mostly female) team backed by its newish President José Raúl Mulino is spearheading new initiatives.

Leading the charge is Vice Minister of Culture Arianne Benedetti, a filmmaker and former film commissioner for Panama who helped push for the country’s 2012 film law. “We’re focusing on improving incentives across the board – better incentives for infrastructure, labor, and even cash-back incentives,” said Benedetti. They are also working on a new incentive to attract more gaming producers to the country.

Aside from proposing an increase in the current cash back rebate of 25% to 30% or 35%, they are also advocating for an increase in coin for the Panamanian Film Fund that supports local productions as well as reviving its co-production forum Meet later this year.

“We’re taking producers and projects to key festivals, with Panama as the country focus...

The Málaga Film Festival held the closing ceremony for its Mafiz industry section on Friday evening. Industry-accredited representatives attended, celebrating the culmination of five days of intense networking and pitching.

The big winner from this year’s Mafiz Work in Progress section was Carlos Saiz’s “Lionel,” produced by Bluconic Films, Blur and Icónica in Spain and Promenade Films in France. The film won the Cine y Tele, Sideral, Yagán and Rec Festival prizes.

“‘Lionel’ is a story of reconciliation between a father and son after two decades apart. Through an intimate road trip, the film explores the complexity of family bonds and the lasting scars of Lionel’s paternal absence,” Saiz explained to Variety ahead of this year’s Mafiz. “Inspired by the real-life story of my friend Lionel and his family—who portray themselves in the film—this project originated from a journey he once recounted to me.

Ana Endara, a well-known Panamanian documentary director, has made an impressive crossover to fiction with her debut feature film, Beloved Tropic. The emotional drama is gaining international acclaim, marking a watershed moment for Central American cinema.

The film features Chilean actress Paulina García, noted for her Silver Bear-winning performance in Gloria. Beloved Tropic is the story of an upper-class woman with dementia and her pregnant immigrant caretaker. Set in Panama City, the film explores issues of caregiving, identity, and the unforeseen ties that bring people together.

Beloved Tropic has received widespread accolades at international film festivals. It was the first Panamanian film to get the Arthouse Cinema Award from Cinélatino Toulouse’s Cinéma in Construction. The film has since played at prominent festivals such as the Toronto International Film Festival (TIFF), San Sebastián’s Horizontes Latinos section, and Rome and Havana festivals competitions.

The film’s distribution has also drawn attention.

Miami-based FiGa Films has sold “Beloved Tropic” (“Querido Tropico”), the debut fiction feature of Panamanian documentary filmmaker Ana Endara, to Costa Rica-based Pacifica Grey ahead of its market debut at Ventana Sur.

Starring Chile’s Paulina Garcia, who clinched a Berlinale Best Actress Silver Bear for her turn in Sebastian Lelio’s “Gloria,” the drama was pounced on by Spain’s Vitrine prior to its debut at the San Sebastian Film Festival in September.

Said FiGa founder-ceo Sandro Fiorin: “I’m honored to be collaborating with Ana Endara, who I’ve admired for years. She’s a real talent, with a precise director’s touch. Ana is definitely going places, we’re lucky to have her as part of our family.”

For Pacifica Grey founder Marcelo Quesada, whose company acquired the rights to the drama for Costa Rica, Nicaragua, Guatemala, Honduras, El Salvador, Belize and the Dominican Republic, “Beloved...

Entries for the 2025 Oscar for best international feature are underway, and Screen is profiling each one on this page.

The 97th Academy Awards is set to take place on March 3, 2025 at the Dolby Theatre in Los Angeles.

An international feature film is defined as a feature-length motion picture (over 40 minutes) produced outside the US with a predominantly (more than 50%) non-English dialogue track and can include animated and documentary features.

Submitted films must have been released theatrically in their respective countries between November 1, 2023, and September 30, 2024. The deadline for submissions to the Academy is October 2.

A shortlist of 15 finalists is scheduled to...

Entries for the 2025 Oscar for best international feature are underway, and Screen is profiling each one on this page.

The 97th Academy Awards is set to take place on March 3, 2025 at the Dolby Theatre in Los Angeles.

An international feature film is defined as a feature-length motion picture (over 40 minutes) produced outside the US with a predominantly (more than 50%) non-English dialogue track and can include animated and documentary features.

Submitted films must have been released theatrically in their respective countries between November 1, 2023, and September 30, 2024. The deadline for submissions to the Academy is October 2.

A shortlist of 15 finalists is scheduled to...

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.

Mas que hermanos (Beyond Brotherhood), is the story of two siblings who end up living in the streets after the unexpected death of their parents. This story of the life of sister and brother, Mia and Joshua Bedi and their fight to survive takes many twists and turns before coming full circle to its unexpected turn of hope in the end. As the author of their story comes to his finale, one understands how life has so much to offer, in spite of its trials and tribulations.

Watch the trailer here.

Offering wonderful views of Panama, its coast, Cinta Costera and Casco Antiguo, the original old town, much the same as its 17th century original (and a Unesco World Heritage Site) this film will make you want to visit there.

The writer-director, Arianne M. Benedetti, has a long association with the city of her birth and knows how to show...

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...

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...

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...

The Ibero-American film industry will get its own award ceremony starting in 2014.

The first Platinum Iberoamerican Film Awards (Premios Platino del Cine Iberoamericano) will be held on April 5 2014 in Panama City and honour the best films from 22 Latin American and European countries.

The announcement of the awards for films from territories in Europe and America where Spanish and Portuguese are spoken was made on December 4 at the Ventana Sur market in Buenos Aires.

Promoted by Fipca, the Iberoamerican Federation of Film and Audiovisual Producers, and Egeda, the management association of audiovisual producers’ rights founded in Spain, the awards have been created to recognise the cinema of the region.

It is estimated that 900 Ibero-American productions have reached the theatres in their countries this year.

“The awards will help us to put our cinema in the context of the industry,” said Fipca vice-president Ignacio Rey (pictured in centre). “This is an initiative to make our films cross boundaries between...