Director Arturo Montenegro will represent Panama at the Academy Awards for a second time after it was announced that his most recent film Birthday Boy / Cumpleañero was selected by the Central American country in the Best International Feature Film competition. His previous film Everybody Changes /Todos cambiamos was the country’s Oscar contender in 2019.
Starring Gaby Gnazzo, Albi De Abreu, and Joavany Alvarez, the film tells the story of Jimmy, who is celebrating his 45th birthday at the beach house and inviting his close circle of friends over for a weekend full of fun, excess and compromise. Nevertheless, everything is interrupted by Jimmy's confession of wanting to end his life before the party ends.
This is the seventh Panamanian Oscar candidate since the country first submitted a film in 2014. Last year Abner Benaím’s Plaza Catedral made it to the Academy Award’s shortlist.
