Panama has announced today that Plaza Catedral, the second fiction feature film by Abner Benaim (Ruben Blades Is Not My Name), will represent the Central American country in the competition for Best International Feature Film at the 94th edition of the Academy Awards. This marks the third time that a film by Benaim represents Panama at the Oscars after his documentary Invasión became the first Panamanian Oscar submission in 2014, and his other documentary feature Ruben Blades Is Not My Name in 2018.
Starring Mexican actress Ilse Salas (The Good Girls) and Colombian actor Manolo Cardona (Narcos), Plaza Catedral recently had its world premiere at the Guadalajara Film Festival where it won the Best Actress Award. The film tells the story of Alicia, who had "a perfect life” and lost it. Her 6-year-old son died in an accident. Her grief is plagued by guilt, which has made her disassociate from society, from married life, and from herself. She now lives in the Old Quarter of Panama, a rich colonial enclave surrounded by Panama's poorest neighborhoods. There she meets Chief, a street smart 13-year-old who takes care of cars in front of her apartment and insists on getting paid for his job. Alicia keeps a safe distance from him, until one night Chief arrives at Alicia's apartment bleeding from a gunshot wound and begs her to let him inside. How far would you go to help a stranger?
