INVASION
by Abner Benaim
SYNOPSIS
INVASION is a documentary about the collective memory of a country. The invasion of Panama by the U.S in 1989 serves as an excuse to explore how a people remember, transform, and often forget their past in order re-define their identity and become who they are today.
Invasion documents the collective memory and willful amnesia of Panamanian filmmaker Abner Benaim's fellow countrymen, utilizing a combination of reenactments and interviews of the 1989 US Invasion. The people's lives were deeply shaken by the invasion: Defense forces who fought symbolic battles, politicians who justify their actions, friends of the church, from civilians to former General Noriega. The Invasion is a platform to talk about the perils of sovereignty, democracy and endangered virtues of today's ultra-capitalist world. Invasion not only explores the mechanisms in which memory is turned into history, but holds a mirror to the present to show how our recent past shapes new Panama.
DETAILS
93 mins
2014
Panama, Argentina
Spanish
TRAILER
CREDITS
Directed by
Abner Benaim
Produced by
Apertura Films (Panamá)
Coproduced by
Ajimolido Films (Argentina)
Executive Produced by Alejandro Israel, Gema Juárez Allen
Cinematography by Guido De Paula
, Mauro Colombo
Sound
by Manuel De Andrés
Edited by Andrés Tambornino
Sound Design by
Lena Esquenazi
Supported by
DICINE
, INCAA,
Programa Ibermedia,
Doha Films Institute,
Cinergia, Hivos
BIOGRAPHY
DIRECTOR - ABNER BENAIM
Abner Benaim was born in 1971 and raised in Panama City, Panama. In 1999, began his filmmaking studies at Camera Obscura, Tel Aviv. He also studied Directing Actors with Marketa Kimbrell from NYU, and has worked on various Israeli, Panamanian and US film productions. Before his film career, Abner Benaim received his BA in International Relations at the University of Pennsylvania, studied Art in Florence, Italy, and worked as an entrepreneur in Panama. Benaim is currently based in Panama City where he founded Apertura Films in 2004.
SELECT FESTIVALS
IFF PANAMA 2014 - BEST DOCUMENTARY & AUDIENCE AWARDS〡IDFA 2014〡SXSW 2015〡MIAMI INTERNATIONAL FILM FESTIVAL 2015 - BEST DIRECTOR AWARD〡IFF CARTAGENA 2015〡IT'S ALL TRUE 2015〡BIOGRAFILM 2015〡MALAGA SPANISH FF 2015 - AUDIENCE AWARD〡OPEN CITY DOCUMENTARY FILM FESTIVAL 2015
PRESS
“Invasion” delivers telling anecdotes – including details of the incompetence and slaughter of women and children by the invaders –and captures the complexities of the past: Many Panamanians wanted Noriega out but opposed an invasion.
"
- Variety
"Wows audiences with its hard-hitting exploration of the U.S. invasion of Panama to take out Noriega – an event that most Panamanians seem all to quick to forget.
"
- The Wrap
“Abner Benaim’s Invasion, an inventive, taboo-breaking reflection on America’s infamous invasion of the country in 1989, which confirms Benaim as a filmmaker who really needs to be noticed outside Panama”..
- Screen Daily
“Invasión is timely historical reminder.”
- Buenos Aires Herald