Ana Endara Mislov

In Panama City, a Colombian immigrant employed as a home health aide, who harbors a secret, develops a touching and unexpected bond with a strong-willed, wealthy businesswoman struggling with encroaching dementia.

What does the ocean really sound like? What we hear is a vibration in the air, a vibration no one sees. Sound is invisible, but it drives us; it makes us cry, laugh, remember and dance; it rattles our insides, it moves us. Through a series of outlandish characters, the documentary takes the viewer on a voyage of the senses, as it reflects on nature, communal life, solitude and silence.

65-year-old coffee grower Victoria challenges a real estate project that encroaches on her land and disrupts her life. Growing friction with her long-time employee reveals a world in flux. As changes swirl around her, she’s compelled to question the privileges that have long sustained her comfortable way of life.

In her village in Panama, Senobia saw art in everything. Put a broken umbrella on a bottle and you have the head of a wild man. A stick plus a plastic cup becomes a bird. She turned her house into “The Museum of Antiquities of All Species.” There are old telephones and computers, and hanging everywhere are cards on which she wrote her thoughts. Her last wish: to keep everything in her museum as it is.

A playful yet critical exploration of a singularly Panamanian phenomenon, Reinas ushers us into the spectacular, strange and stressful world of queen ceremonies. An integral part of Panamanian folklore, our queens symbolize the festive aspect of our national spirit. But they also promote a very particular, potentially troubling idea of womanhood.

Kenneth is a charismatic character whose trade is taking pictures of his neighbours in Curundú. "An almost retired criminal" and also a man with a talent for storytelling. Through Kenneth and his pictures, the documentary talks about Curundú, one of the poorest and most marginalised neighbourhoods in Panama City.