MAITE ALBERDI FROM CHILE, ONDI TIMONER FROM USA, JIMENA FRANCO AND JÜRGEN UREÑA FROM COSTA RICA, ROBER CALZADILLA FROM VENEZUELA, VERÓNICA PERROTTA FROM URUGUAY, AND ÁNGELES CRUZ AND LUCÍA CARRERAS FROM MEXICO AMONG THE SPECIAL GUESTS FOR THE SIXTH EDITIO

Maite Alberdi
 

Maite Alberdi returns to the International Film Festival of Panama

Among the list of directors that will participate in IFF Panama is the Chilean filmmaker Maite Alberdi, who will present The Grown Ups, a film which aims to break the stereotype of people with down syndrome.

She returns to the International Film Festival of Panama after her experience in 2016 with the successful documentary The Once. Alberdi will be present at both screenings The Grown Ups to interact with the attendees (Monday, April 3 at 7:45 pm in room 8 of Cinépolis Multiplaza and Tuesday, April 4 at 7:00 pm in Copa Airlines room of the same complex).

Ondi Timoner

Ondi Timoner and We Live In Public

Ondi Timoner has the distinction of having the Grand Jury Prize at the Sundance Film Festival twice. The first award was for Dig! (2004) and the second for We Live in Public (2009). Timoner will participate in the special screening her film on Saturday, April 1, 9:00 p.m. at the Anita Villalaz Theater.

We Live in Public is the story of the Internet's revolutionary impact on human interaction as told through the eyes of Internet pioneer and visionary, Josh Harris. 

Currently, Timoner is in Panama shooting a 10-episode series titled Jungletown, to be released on Viceland. Jungletown follows an American entrepreneur and a group of hundreds of young people who are trying to build the world’s most sustainable modern town, deep inside the Panamanian jungle.

Jurgen Ureña

Jimena Franco and Jürgen Ureña from Costa Rica

Abrazame como antes follows the lives of a group of transexual prostitues who desperately seek to cling to anyone who offers them a familial embrace. Verónica (Jimena Franco), Tato (Camilo Regueyra), Greta (Natalia Porras) and Thalaya (Thalaya) live under the night sky of the city of San Jose, Costa Rica, where their paths intersect with other lonely and uncertain lives.

Costa Rican actress Jimena Franco, lead of the film, and Jürgen Ureña, its director, will attend both of the film’s presentations (Sunday, April 2 at 3:45 pm in room 7 of Cinepolis Multiplaza and monday April 3, 7:00 pm at the Anita Villalaz Theater).

Rober Calzadilla shows his version of El Amparo

Special guest Rober Calzadilla, Venezuelan writer and director of El Amparo, graduated from the School of Arts of the Central University of Venezuela. Rober brings El Amparo to IFF Panama to have two screenings (Friday, March 31 At 9:00 pm at the Anita Villalaz Theater and Sunday, April 2 at 8:30 pm in room 5 of Cinepolis Multiplaza).

At the end of the 80’s, by the creeks of the Arauca river, near the Colombian-Venezuelan border, two men survived a brutal shooting in which 14 of their mates were killed. They claimed to be mere fishermen, but the Venezuelan army accused them to be guerrilla fighters, intimidating them in every possible way and even attempting to remove them from the cell where they were guarded by a policeman. 

From Uruguay, Veronica Perrotta with Dolphins go east  

Also confirmed to attend this year’s edition is Veronica Perrotta, lead role, co director and producer of Dolphins go east. Perrotta graduated from the Alambique Theater School and has participated in an extensive list of productions, among them The Wait, Whiskey and Acne.

The uruguayan director will participate in the two projections of Dolphins go east (Monday, April 3 at 5:00 p.m. in room 5 of Cinepolis Multiplaza and Tuesday, April 4 at 7:00 p.m. in the Anita Villalaz Theater).

Lucia Carreras

Ángeles Cruz and Lucía Carreras with Tamara and the ladybug

Ángeles Cruz, lead of the movie Tamara and the Ladybug, and its screenwriter and director Lucia Carreras, will be present at both presentations of the film (Sunday, April 2 at 7:00 pm in the Parque de las Madres - Pedregal and on Tuesday, April 4 at 5:30 pm in room 5 of Cinepolis Multiplaza).

The film narrates the story of two women who, drowned in their loneliness, find in each other a space of redemption. One is a 40-year-old with mental retardation and the other is an old lady who was forgotten by her children after moving to the US.