The Salón de los Espejos at Málaga City Hall was the setting this afternoon for the presentation of the Silver Biznaga to Panama, the guest country at the 29th edition of the Festival. Mayor Francisco de la Torre presented the award to Vice Minister of Culture Arianne Benedetti, in the presence of the Panamanian Ambassador to Spain, Héctor Infante, and some forty professionals from the Central American country's audiovisual sector.
 
The Mayor opened the event by welcoming the Deputy Minister and other institutional representatives and members of the delegation present in Málaga, emphasising the strategic importance of the Central American country “as an isthmus connecting oceanic spaces and continents.” He went on to say that “we are very pleased that your production has been showcased in greater detail, not only in Málaga, but also to the industry at MAFIZ,” and concluded his remarks by proclaiming that Málaga and Panama “have been forever united by cinema.”
 
With the Biznaga award in hand, Arianne Benedetti thanked the mayor for his consideration of Panama, explaining that “the Festival is a space that gives us the opportunity to offer a platform to our current and future filmmakers and to share the beauty of our country.” After highlighting the support of the President of the Republic of Panama for the audiovisual sector, she affirmed that her government’s objective is “to ensure that Panamanian cinema continues to grow, continues to be seen, and that more and more people want to discover our country through it.”
 
The grand finale of the ceremony was a performance in the City Hall's Patio de Banderas by Panamanian folk artists who treated authorities and attendees to a showcase of their musical heritage.

This event marked the culmination of several intense days in which Panama was the star of Latinamerican Focus, promoting its talent, its audiovisual sector, the incentives it offers for production and co-productions, and its position as a leading filming hub in the region. This initiative reaffirms, once again, the Festival de Málaga's commitment to promoting Ibero-American cinema, decisively fostering collaboration between the guest country and the European film industry.
 
With a wide-ranging programme of activities, Malaga has opened a window to the Panamanian industry, which has a presence in the various sections of MAFIZ. The talks "Co-produce with us: Panama is your ally" and "We are a production hub: tax incentives and the benefits of producing in Panama” focused, respectively, on the benefits and incentives for co-producing and producing in the Central American country. In this second talk, María Cecilia Arias, director of the Panama Film Commission, highlighted “the country’s advantages, its stability, and stable currency,” and that the entity “functions as a one-stop shop and offers institutional support from start to finish.”  For
 
her part, Deputy Minister Benedetti highlighted how the exchange with the international audiovisual sector enables “the know-how of productions that come to the country to help professionalise Panamanians,” and concluded by stating that “we have countless stories to tell from all over the world.”
 
At the Rosaleda cinemas, exclusive sessions for industry professionals were held, featuring four feature films under the MAFIZ Specials umbrella, while Málaga Short Corner dedicated a session to short films in collaboration with the Hayah Festival. Three titles were also presented at Málaga WIP Iberoamérica; two projects at MAFF and two at Warmi Lab; and the young filmmaker Ana Laura Samaniego is participating in Málaga Talent.
 
As usual, the Festival de Málaga included the Focus Panama (Country of Honour) section in its programme, allowing the city's audiences to enjoy a selection of Panamanian cinema with the feature films Espina, by Daniel Poler; Papeles, by Arturo Montenegro; and Querido trópico, by Ana Endara.
 
Latinamerican Focus is organised by the Festival de Málaga with the collaboration of the Panamanian Ministry of Culture, DICINE, the Panamanian Film Commission, the Panamanian Embassy in Spain and the Hoja de Bijao Foundation, and with official sponsorship from Make & Mark.