Abner Benaim (

Panamá Panama ( , ; es, link=no, Panamá ), officially the Republic of Panama ( es, República de Panamá), is a transcontinental country spanning the southern part of North America and the northern part of South America. It is bordered by C ...

, 1971) is a

Panamanian Panamanians (Spanish: ''Panameños'') are people identified with Panama, a transcontinental country in Central America (a region within North America) and South America, whose connection may be residential, legal, historical, or cultural. For ...

film director, producer, screenwriter and plastic artist.

Biography

Benaim studied International Relationships at

University of Pennsylvania The University of Pennsylvania (also known as Penn or UPenn) is a private research university in Philadelphia. It is the fourth-oldest institution of higher education in the United States and is ranked among the highest-regarded universit ...

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 U.S. state, states, a Washington, D.C., federal district, five ma ...

. He then attended

Tel Aviv Tel Aviv-Yafo ( he, תֵּל־אָבִיב-יָפוֹ, translit=Tēl-ʾĀvīv-Yāfō ; ar, تَلّ أَبِيب – يَافَا, translit=Tall ʾAbīb-Yāfā, links=no), often referred to as just Tel Aviv, is the most populous city in the G ...

's Camera Obscura film school. Benaim took his first steps in the documentary world with ''Good Vibes'' and ''Round Trip To Panama'', showed at

Jerusalem Jerusalem (; he, יְרוּשָׁלַיִם ; ar, القُدس ) (combining the Biblical and common usage Arabic names); grc, Ἱερουσαλήμ/Ἰεροσόλυμα, Hierousalḗm/Hierosóluma; hy, Երուսաղեմ, Erusałēm. i ...

Haifa Haifa ( he, חֵיפָה ' ; ar, حَيْفَا ') is the third-largest city in Israel—after Jerusalem and Tel Aviv—with a population of in . The city of Haifa forms part of the Haifa metropolitan area, the third-most populous metropoli ...

Los Angeles Los Angeles ( ; es, Los Ángeles, link=no , ), often referred to by its initials L.A., is the largest city in the state of California and the second most populous city in the United States after New York City, as well as one of the wor ...

Chicago (''City in a Garden''); I Will , image_map = , map_caption = Interactive Map of Chicago , coordinates = , coordinates_footnotes = , subdivision_type = List of sovereign states, Count ...

New York New York most commonly refers to: * New York City, the most populous city in the United States, located in the state of New York * New York (state), a state in the northeastern United States New York may also refer to: Film and television * '' ...

Miami Miami ( ), officially the City of Miami, known as "the 305", "The Magic City", and "Gateway to the Americas", is a coastal metropolis and the county seat of Miami-Dade County in South Florida, United States. With a population of 442,241 at th ...

and

Panama Panama ( , ; es, link=no, Panamá ), officially the Republic of Panama ( es, República de Panamá), is a transcontinental country spanning the southern part of North America and the northern part of South America. It is bordered by Co ...

, receiving multiple nominations in several international film festivals. In 2004 he founded Apertura Films in Panamá City. In 2005 he directed an 11-episode documentary series, ''El otro lado'' that won the New York Television Festival Best Documentary Award 2005 and was mentioned by

Rolling Stone ''Rolling Stone'' is an American monthly magazine that focuses on music, politics, and popular culture. It was founded in San Francisco, California, in 1967 by Jann Wenner, and the music critic Ralph J. Gleason. It was first known for its co ...

magazine in its Latin American edition as one of the 100 best TV show of all times. Benaim has taken part in several productions, including films as ''Life in nature'' (2002), ''In the attic'' (2003), ''On the bench'' (2014, Short Plays series), ''Bulldog Noise'' (2004) and the book ''Panamix''. In 2009 he released ''Chance'' beating records in the Panamanian box office with more than 140,000 domestic tickets sold and half a million viewers in the region. Benaim won the 2011 Japan Skip City D-Cinema Festival Best Screenplay Award and his film was acquired by

HBO Home Box Office (HBO) is an American premium television network, which is the flagship property of namesake parent subsidiary Home Box Office, Inc., itself a unit owned by Warner Bros. Discovery. The overall Home Box Office business unit is ba ...

and Ibermedia TV. ''Empleadas y patrones'', a documentary he directed in 2010, had its premiere at IDFA and was shown in Hot Docs Toronto, London International Film Festival and more than 40 other international festivals. In 2014 Benaim released ''

Invasion An invasion is a military offensive in which large numbers of combatants of one geopolitical entity aggressively enter territory owned by another such entity, generally with the objective of either: conquering; liberating or re-establishing co ...

'', a documentary about the collective memory forged around the invasion of Panama by the United States in 1989. The film was premiered in Panama's 2014 IFF International Film Festival and won the Audience Best Picture Award and the Latin American and Caribbean Best Picture of 2014. ''Invasion'' was selected to represent Panama in the Best Foreign Picture category (now called Best International Feature Film) at the

87th Academy Awards The 87th Academy Awards ceremony, presented by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences (AMPAS), honored the best films of 2014 and took place on February 22, 2015, at the Dolby Theatre in Hollywood, Los Angeles beginning at 5:30 p ...

, but was not nominated. In 2015, ''Invasion'' won the Best Director Award at the

MIFF MIFF may refer to: Film festivals * Listapad, aka Minsk International Film Festival, held each November in Minsk, Belarus *Maine International Film Festival, held in Waterville, Maine *Melbourne International Film Festival, held in Melbourne, Aus ...

, the Best Caribbean Documentary Award at the FIQBAC International Film Festival of Barranquilla, Colombia, and the Audience Award at the Málaga Film Festival. Benaim took part in the collective film ''Historias del Canal'' (2014) directing the segment called 1977. Benaim's 2018 documentary ''Ruben Blades Is Not My Name'' was also submitted, but did not receive a nomination, for the

Academy Award for Best International Feature Film The Academy Award for Best International Feature Film (known as Best Foreign Language Film prior to 2020) is one of the Academy Awards handed out annually by the U.S.-based Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences (AMPAS). It is given to a ...

at the

91st Academy Awards The 91st Academy Awards ceremony, presented by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences (AMPAS), honored the best films of 2018 and took place on February 24, 2019, at the Dolby Theatre in Hollywood, Los Angeles. During the ceremony, AM ...

, making him the only Panamanian director with more than one submission.

Filmography

* ''

Plaza Catedral ''Plaza Catedral'' is a 2021 Panamanian drama film directed by Abner Benaim. It was selected as the Panamanian entry for the Best International Feature Film at the 94th Academy Awards. The film appeared on the Best International Feature Film s ...

'' (2021) * ''

Historias del Canal ''Historias'' is the fifth studio album released on April 19, 1994 by Guatemalan singer-songwriter Ricardo Arjona. Reception The Allmusic review by Jason Birchmeier awarded the album 4.5 stars: "If you were to pick only one Arjona's album f ...

'', segment 1977 (2014) * ''

Chance Chance may refer to: Mathematics and Science * In mathematics, likelihood of something (by way of the Likelihood function and/or Probability density function). * ''Chance'' (statistics magazine) Places * Chance, Kentucky, US * Chance, Maryl ...

'' (2009) * ''

In the attic IN, In or in may refer to: Places * India (country code IN) * Indiana, United States (postal code IN) * Ingolstadt, Germany (license plate code IN) * In, Russia, a town in the Jewish Autonomous Oblast Businesses and organizations * Indepe ...

'' (2003)

Documentaries

* ''

Ruben Blades Is Not My Name ''Ruben Blades Is Not My Name'' ( es, Yo No Me Llamo Rubén Blades) is a 2018 Panamanian documentary film directed by Abner Benaim. The documentary follows the life of Rubén Blades, a Panamanian musician, singer, composer, actor, activist, and ...

'' (2018) * ''

'' (2014) * '' Empleadas y Patrones'' (2010) * '' Bulldog Noise'' (2004) * '' Good vibes'' (2003) * '' Round Trip to Panama'' (2002)

As producer

* ''

'' (2014) * '' Empleadas y Patrones'' (2010) * ''

'' (2009) - Coproduced by Matthias Ehrenberg * '' El Otro Lado'' (2005) * '' En el Ático'' (2003) * '' Life in Nature'' (2002)

References

External links

* Film Offic

* IMD

* Latinamerican Film Blo

* Interview with Abner Benaim in Spanis

* Empleadas y Patrones official sit

{{DEFAULTSORT:Benaim, Abner 1971 births Living people Panamanian people of Moroccan-Jewish descent