Newsroom Panama - Panama News and Events in English

By Katherine Monahan

One way or another Panama is going to get a “Raging Bull” during the upcoming International  Film Festival (April 6 – May2).

Out and about with Zuleira

The folks behind the 12^th Night Revel (party)  at the Magnolia Inn in Casco Viejo, have not been idle  during the Christmas break. 

By Lourdes Quijada

A month or so back Newsroom published a story about the mayor of Vilnius, Lithuania, using a giant armored car to crush an illegally parked Mercedes.

Reports from Venice about the new movie version of the John Le Carré classic Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy, brought back memories of another of his works with multiple local connections:  the Tailor of Panama.

By Dra Lourdes Quijada

 A highlight of the German weeks’ celebrations in Panama, was a gala concert, at the Teatro National with pianist Cosima Osthoff accompanying  talented singers from Opera Panama.

By  Dra Lourdes Quijada

Canadian ambassador Patricia Langan Torrell performed her last official public on Friday August 19, when she attended the opening of an art exhibit by a fellow countryman.

By Lourdes Quijada

If  you are a movie goer, like me you may be frustrated by the lack of critical reviews of  films presented in Panama cinemas.

Obituaries of painter Lucian Freud, who died on Thursday are being published around the world. Of the many reviewed by Newsroom, this one from The First Post introduces some interesting anecdotes, other than his alleged large family of children by multiple mothers.

David Cairns wrote:

The painter Lucian Freud has died peacefully at home at the age of 88. The news was broken by his niece, broadcaster Emma Freud, on her Twitter feed yesterday: "Oh... My uncle Lucian has died. Oh."

Detail from a Freud self portrait with a black eye earned from a cab driver

Freud - grandson of Sigmund Freud, the father of pyschoanalysis - came to the UK from his native Germany at the age of 10 and was later naturalised as a British citizen. He became one of Britain's most respected - and expensive - artists, renowned for his defiantly objective depictions of naked models.

Despite the unflatteringly realistic mottled flesh tones and un-pretty poses he made use of, celebrity sitters queued up for the honour of being painted by Freud. He painted nudes of Jerry Hall and Kate Moss - and a clothed portrait of the Queen, described by some as "disrespectful" for its apparent five-o'clock shadow.

Freud defied artistic convention to confine himself to figure-painting at a time when the future seemed to lie with abstraction. Sticking to his guns, he enjoyed the last laugh in 2008 when his Benefits Supervisor Sleeping fetched the then-highest price for a work by a living artist, £17.2m.

Freud almost never spoke to the press, cultivating an air of mystery. But those who knew him well said he could be brilliant and entertaining company, in the vein of his brother Clement, the former Liberal MP and Just a Minute star.

Lucian made no secret of his loathing for Clement - and when the younger brother died last year, the two had not spoken for 50 years. Supposedly, their enmity dated back to a boyhood race in a park in which Clement was leading, only for Lucian to call out "Stop, thief!", pipping his brother at the post as a policeman tackled him.

Speaking in 2008, Lucian said: "Why on Earth would I want to speak to [Clement] or see him again?

"I was offered a knighthood but turned it down. My younger brother has one of those. That's all that needs to be said on the matter."

The brothers shared a passionate interest in horse racing - and Lucian was as much a bon vivant as his gourmand sibling. Last night, a black table cloth covered his regular table in the Wolseley [a restaurant he frequented] in tribute, empty but for a single candle.

It was presumably after a particularly well-enjoyed evening out that Freud had his eye blacked by a cab driver. He was almost 60 at the time.

Arriving at his studio the next morning, he dismissed his sitter for the day and set to work recording the bruise on canvas. Self-portrait with a Black Eye fetched £2.8m at auction in London in 2010.

Remembering Freud for the Guardian, Sue Tilley … said: "Sometimes he was very chatty, sometimes he was very quiet - I always thought he should have been on the telly.

"He'd say terrible things about people, but he never saw that he was really rude. I was always a bit jealous: he did exactly as he pleased.

"He was funny, miserable, horrible, kind, mean, generous, every character trait mixed up in one person." 

 With Dra.Lourdes Quijada

If you are looking for a night out with something for many tastes from film to art, dancing, or just to sip wine and nibble on munchies while meeting and making friends, the Riu Hotel on Calle 50 is the place to be on  Friday, July 1.

That’s when expats from 16 countries will gather to help local and visiting Canadians celebrate Canada Day.

Among the guests will be Canadian Ambassador Patricia Langan Torell and British Ambassador Michael Holloway,  and Henk Van Der Kolk, co-founder of Tiff, the world’s biggest film festival.

The ambassadors will  cut a Canada Day cake, and Henk, along with son-in-law Rob Brown will make a visual presentation on the planned Panama International film festival, scheduled to open in February next year -- an event that will help focus the eyes of the world on the Isthmus, bring some of the big names in the film world to the city and provide entertainment and involvement for all who live here.

Yolanda van Der Kolk

Two Canadian artists, Yolanda  Van der Kolk and Germain Courchesne, both living in Panama will be showing a selection of their works and there will be jeweler made by members of the CanadaPLUS Club, and an opportunity to buy tee shirts to support  an El Valle animal protection program.

You will also be able to receive information on membership of the CanadaPLUS Club, which creates events  for  Panamanians and expats  from around the world to meet and socialize, and provides opportunities for group health insurance, and multiple discount benefits.

The cost for the evening (by ticket only)  is $20 members, $25 non members. For tickets, which can be picked up in Bella Vista. or delivered to your home or office:  This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it . 6619 6890. {jathumbnail off}

Hurry.  Sales end this weekend.

The Social Scene with

Dra Lourdes Quijada

Casco Viejo  is growing to be a cultural center in its own right,  with a seemingly endless supply of artistic  endeavors