A cornucopia of films and art

Panama goes about it through the “Panama stays with you” campaign, organized to identify Panama as a favorite spot for tourism, by creating web sites to aid potential travellers (www.visitpanama.com), for example. Ruben Blades, Minister of Tourism, also toured Europe early July under the same banner, both to reinstate his career and to promote Panama in the European market, according to press reports.

Embassies and foreign cultural organizations in Panama don’t lag behind, doing their part to promote their regions and countries. Only this week, two film festivals and one art exhibit are to be launched to promote widely differing destinations: Europe, the Caribbean, and Chile.

European Film Festival: The European Film Festival will be running in Cinepolis, MultiPlaza, from October 17 to 30, where for $2 you will be able to chose from 16 highly-acclaimed European films.

The films come from Spain, France, Sweden, Great Britain, Italy, Germany and the Netherlands, and range from big productions like “Atonement” to movies that never made it to Panama like the comedy “A happy family” from the Netherlands.

More information on the movies, the days shown and the timings can be found at Cinepolis.

Similar to last year’s festival, the organizers will hold a contest where viewers get to choose the best picture and three lucky viewers go home with gifts.

Caribbean Films Screening: SERTV, the State Radio and Television System, and the Experimental Film Group of the University of Panama along with the Cuban Institute of Art and Cinematographic Industry (ICAIC) present for the first time in Panama a sample of Caribbean films at the Alhambra Movie Theaters starting Friday Oct 17 and running until October 27. 19 documentaries and fiction movies made by the best filmmakers from 14 different countries will be shown.

According to the organizers, the screenings aim to expose Panamanian residents to a rich yet little known cinematographic hub, and through the visual settings of the films allow the audience to explore the small islands which few in Panama know despite the relative proximity both geographically and historically.

It is worth mentioning that three Cuban films have been set aside for Monday’s screenings to commemorate Cuban Cultural Day. Cuban filmmaker Rigoberto Lopez Pego, director of “Yo soy, del son a la salsa” and “Roble de Olor” and Cuban actor Luis Alberto Garcia, who star in “La Vida es silbar”, will also join the activities.

Movie tickets will be $1.00 and the screenings will be at 5, 7, and 9 p.m. More information is available at SERTV: 507-1500.

CHILEAN ART: The Chilean embassy, the Prochile Commercial Office and Imagen Gallery inaugurate today Thursday at 7:00 p.m. the exhibit “Contemporary Chilean Paintings”, which presents the works of three distinguished Chilean artists: Gina Intveen-Alejandro Arrepol and Carmen Gloria Machuca at Galeria Imagen (Calle 50, Info.: 226-8989).

This exhibit falls under the umbrella of the project “Art without boundaries” initiated by the Montecatini Gallery in Chile in 2000, focused on positioning Chile in foreign countries looking towards opening a commercial window through which the works of Chilean artists can be diffused.

“Contemporary Chilean Paintings” has travelled a long way, visiting museums and art galleries all over Central America, the Caribbean, the United States, Vietnam, Hong Kong, and now stepping for the first time on Panamanian soil.

I hope all of these initiatives are the first of many and that they keep on promoting a rich cultural exchange between Panama and the rest of the world. They present one of those rare occasions where the mountain actually comes to you.