Panama Forges New Plans to Grow Film Industry and Lure More Location Shoots

Big changes are afoot in Panama’s film industry as a young, dynamic (and mostly female) team backed by its newish President José Raúl Mulino is spearheading new initiatives.

Leading the charge is Vice Minister of Culture Arianne Benedetti, a filmmaker and former film commissioner for Panama who helped push for the country’s 2012 film law. “We’re focusing on improving incentives across the board – better incentives for infrastructure, labor, and even cash-back incentives,” said Benedetti. They are also working on a new incentive to attract more gaming producers to the country.

Aside from proposing an increase in the current cash back rebate of 25% to 30% or 35%, they are also advocating for an increase in coin for the Panamanian Film Fund that supports local productions as well as reviving its co-production forum MEET later this year.

“We’re taking producers and projects to key festivals, with Panama as the country focus at the Malaga Film Festival next year. We’ll also have a delegation at Ventana Sur and in Spain in September, helping producers connect with international industry professionals. Additionally, we’re supporting producers at markets like Berlin’s EFM, where Panama will have a stand for the first time to promote the country as a production destination,” said Benedetti.

Speaking to Variety at the Panama Int’l Film Festival (IFF Panama), Benedetti and new film commissioner Maria Cecilia Arias, also revealed plans to reel in a foreign partner to build a studio facility in Panama. A feasibility study is set to be unveiled in a month or two, they said.

They and their team traveled to London and Los Angeles late last year to meet with potential studio partners, which also includes a company in Spain.

“With diverse landscapes – beaches, jungles, mountains – Panama can serve as a stand-in for places like New York, Miami or Dubai. Its short distances make it ideal for filming, offering convenience and variety for production companies,” Arias pointed out.

“One fascinating thing we found in London is that studios are now being built right within the city. Many people complained that the studios were too far from the city, so what they are looking for now is convenience, being closer to home, with shorter distances to avoid extra exhaustion. So, you start selecting potential locations to build, and you know that, for example, in rural areas, it might not be as feasible, and things like that. This is how the criteria is set to determine the best option,” she added.

“Panama is a dollarized and a very safe country with excellent connectivity, offering 13 direct flights from the U.S. alone. It’s the only place in the world where you can stay in a five-star hotel and be in the jungle just 15 minutes later. We offer a wide variety of locations –beaches, islands, cities – where you can film in settings ranging from a metropolis like Las Vegas to the jungles of Brazil or the streets of France and Spain. Panama provides the unique combination of a vibrant, safe city with incredible natural locations just a short distance away,” Benedetti concurred.

Key is the support from the higher echelons of power. And luckily Panama has a film-friendly president and Congress who are just as convinced about the benefits of supporting the audiovisual industry and making Panama a key location hub.

Aside from the Dominican Republic and Colombia, “Uruguay went through the same process – it was literally a good government that came in, believed in cinema, and now it’s the new destination,” Arias noted.