PANAMA’S  5^th  International Film Festival  is scheduled for April 7 to 13, and will introduce 70 films.

It will also feature a retrospective of films from the 1940s and 1950s and will honor  special guest will be Italian actress Lucia Bosé, who  appeared in films with European actors such as Michelangelo Antonioni, Federico Fellini and Luis Buñuel.

“She is one of the great protagonists of the Italian neorealist film movement, which was a big influence on Latin American filmmakers in the 1960s, 1970s and it still is," says the Festival’s CEO and Director, Pituka Ortega Heilbron.

The announcement was made Thursday November 12 at a press conference in Casco Viejo.

Among the 70 featured films will be  Anacleto, a spy-spoof by festival favorite Javier Ruíz Caldera.

Ricardo Darín will present his film Truman, a comedy starring Spanish actor Javier Cámara.

With the Teatro Nacional closed for repairs the  Balboa Theater in Ancon will  be the host center and scene of the red carpet events.

The site, according to Pituka Heilbron, is  intended to evoke in the audience the same experience of those who frequented the iconic building of the architecture of the 1950s, when it  was in its  prime, making it a perfect setting for the retrospective.

Now renovated, it will house a thousand moviegoers.

Organizers have stepped up the educational program program which will have  three instructional days prior to the festival. "In this way, the training does not interrupt the schedule of screenings said  Yasser Williams, president of the IFF Foundation

Attendance  is expected to jump to 10,000 compared to 2015 when 8000 people attended.

Youth participation  is projected to grow by 25% over the 800 present at this year's event which partially clashed with the OAS Summit and left some movie goers apprehensive about  traffic flow, but in the end their concerns were assuaged.

IFF films will also be projected in the Anita Villalaz Theatre  the Mirador of the Cinta Costera and  two Cinepolis  theatres  in Multiplaza.

There will be early bird specials for jubilados (retirees)