“Why not a film festival?” someone suggested Shanida Gutierrez as she was considering ways to raise money for the Instituto de Arte y Cultura el Divino Nińo, a non-profit organization she co-founded 10 years ago. Both in Panama and New York, this institute is dedicated to providing educational opportunities and exposure to the arts to the children of families without the economic resources to do so on their own. In El Chorrillo, they offer music, painting, dance and art appreciation lessons to young kids and teenagers that might have never known the beauty of experiencing things in a brand new perspective. Every year, in January, a summer camp is held with American volunteers coming from the U.S, to promote within each child the spirit of excellence, love, humility, human dignity and self worth, all in the context of Christianity.

     Filled with hope, but with low expectations in mind, in a couple of months Shanida organized what was to be the first international film festival in Panama’s history, El Festival Internacional de Cine Las Garzas, which was celebrated from the 22nd to the 29th of August. According to a press release, the festival’s goal was to celebrate diversity in cinema, both independently and commercially. A total of 40 films (both short and feature) were screened in Extreme Planet and in the Anita Villalaz theatre in Casco Viejo, a perfect scenario for such a cultural event. Because of the short time in which the festival was organized, there wasn’t a clear guideline or board of jurors to evaluate each film; rather there was an “open” policy. Despite this, the films presented were of deep subject matter and imaginative cinematography.


Photo courtesy of L. Wilhelm
     Big films in the independent circuits were shown in this Festival. Around 20 pieces from the Tribeca Film Festival in NY were presented. Famous actor Robert de Niro founded this festival in NY, after the terrorist attacks of Septermber 2001. Among these films, there was the documentary Every Mother’s son, winner of the Audience Award 2004. In the late 1990’s, Amadou Diallo, Anthony Baez and Gary Busch, all from minority groups, were killed, victims of police brutality. Produced, written and directed by Tami Gold and Kelly Anderson, Every Mother’s Son tells of the victims' three mothers who came together to demand justice and accountability.

     One of the top picks in the Havana Film Festival in New York and the Edinburgh Film Festival in Scotland, Red Cockroaches was directed by Cuban American writer/director Miguel Coyula, who was scheduled to be at the screening of his film on August 23rd, but couldn’t make it due to previous professional commitments. A true piece of what is called “film noir”, Red Cockroaches is a surreal and amazing ride into a pseudo futuristic world where genetic manipulation is advertised on TV and acid rain is a vivid threat. In the midst of all this, we have Adam, a neurotic twenty-something year old living in New York. Stuck in a dead end job as a bartender and newly single after breaking up with a Manhattan debutant, he has brief encounters with Lily, a beautiful yet dark young woman that intrigues him and interrupts his blunt existence. Torn between his desire and his conscience, he makes choices and faces their eventual consequences. Together, Adam and Lily embark on an obsessive-destructive journey that reveals dark family secrets and forbidden desires.

     To be honest, after watching this movie, the ride home from Extreme Planet was a blur. I didn’t understand the movie and maybe because it wasn’t conceived to be understood, but to be awed. On a $2000 budget, Coyula created a masterpiece that digs deep into the human psyche and exploits a dark, troubled relationship. Filmed with a personal digital video camera and edited with regular Macintosh software, this “artsy” flick is filled with long scenes of devastating silence and close ups, expressing a combined sense of confusion, destructive attraction and impending tragedy. Abominable yet sensual, Red Cockroaches awakens in you an appreciation for style and imagination. A guilty pleasure for all who enjoy emotional rides into the dark side, this movie truly deserves its title as the “critics darling” and it kicked of the Festival with a bang.

     National talent was also present in this festival, with the participation of many young filmmakers from “el patio”. Among these where El Plomero, by Jonathan Harker; Good Vibes, by Abner Beniam; Karcamo, by Abraham Rodriguez; Bazuka, by Anel Reyes; Sangre de mi Sangre, by Javier Wade; Angel Hepburn’s Vigilia; El Amigo Juancho, by Fernando Soto; El Hijo de la Iglesia, by Javier Arroyo, and Joaquin Carrasquilla’s Hitchock-like piece La Noche. Also worth mentioning, is Angela Salamanca’s Bipolar, a short film that explores the world of patients with bipolar disorder, also known as Manic-depressive disorder. Angela Salamanca is a former FSU student, an alumni from the film school, that presents us now her latest work, which FSU–Panama students got a special screening of August 16 in “the cathedral”, room 204.

     After almost a week of great cinema, forums and after parties in Bennigan’s Tavern, Greenhouse Café, Restaurante Las Bovedas, Bar Seis, Oz and Hotel El Panama, the Festival Internacional de Cine Las Garzas came to an end on August 28th, with the national premiere of acclaimed Spanish director Pedro Almodovar’s latest work, La Mala Educacion. My personal favorite from the whole festival, this film was chosen to open the 2004 Cannes Film Festival and received great reviews from the French press and the international press alike. In La Mala Educacion, Almodovar takes a look at his own adolescence as well as confronting the issue of sexual misconduct in the Catholic Church. Two boys, Ignacio and Enrique, discover love, movies and fear in a Catholic boarding school during the Franco era. Years later, after being separated by Padre Manolo (played by Daniel Gimenez Cacho), the two boys reunite during the Spanish Movida, a period of cultural and social revolution during the 1970’s and 1980’s in Spain.

     Gael Garcia Bernal plays triple duty, interpreting very different characters with such an ease and smoothness, as they were three different actors. Fele Martinez’s performance as Enrique Goded, a homosexual director striving after the success of his first cult movie, is good, yet fails in convincing the audience of his place as the victim of a psychological game. After an award wining performance in another Almodovar movie, Hable con Ella (Talk to Her), Javier Camara returns to the screen with a short but scene – stealing performance as a transvestite, that gives comic relief to what is an intensely heavy movie. Although Garcia Bernal is clearly the star of the movie, it wouldn’t be complete without the other cast members, including Lluis Homar, Fran Boira, Petra Martinez, Raul Garcia Forneiro, Ignacio Perez, Alberto Ferreiro, Roberto Hoyas and Leonor Watling.

     La Mala Educacion is an erotically charged puzzle, not fit for close-minded audiences. Almost all its male characters are homosexual and engage in sexual relationships that leave very little to the imagination. Even so, these scenes are filmed sublimely, with an almost tragic soundtrack that reflect the gaudy melodrama that is to come. The convoluted layering of films within films and flashback within flashbacks create an intellectual challenge for any viewer trying to get a grip on what the film is about. In conclusion, La Mala Educacion is an enigmatic noir melodrama about the Holy Church, cross dressing and double crossing that is a must see, much in the line of Red Cockroaches.

The Festival Internacional de Cine Las Garzas is bound to become a yearly event, that for one week will take us away from the notion of movies as a money making industry and introduce us to the concept of movies as art. To top it off, it’s for a good cause. Next year, be sure not to miss it.


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