Profiles: Abner Benaim | Proimágenes Colombia

Abner was born in Panama en 1971 and moved to Israel in 1999 to study Directing and Cinematography at the Camera Obscura School of the Arts in Tel Aviv. He also studied Directing with Marketa Kimbrell at NYU, at the Escuela Internacional de Cine de Cuba, and has participated in film productions in the US, Israel and Panama. Benaim also has a BA in International Relations from the University of Pennsylvania and studied Art in Florence, Italy.
 
As an independent documentary filmmaker in Israel, Abner directed the feature Good Vibes, which traveled to the Parnu Anthropological Film Festival in Estonia and the Israfest in Los Angeles, Chicago, Miami and New York. The film was broadcast on TV YES (Israel) and on MAORI TV (New Zealand) and garnered awards from the Syracuse International Film Festival, BAR TV Yugoslavia and the World Youth Alliance Festival, New York.
 
That same year the documentary Round Trip to Panamá was broadcast on Canal 10 Israel and screened at special functions in theaters in Jerusalem, Tel Aviv Haifa, New York and Panama. Other documentaries directed in Israel include Life in Nature and Bulldog Noise.
 
In 2003, Benaim made the fiction short En el Ático, also in Israel, which screened at the Palm Beach International Film Festival in 2006.
 
In 2005, Abner moved to Panama and founded the production company Apertura Films to produce and direct El otro lado, an 11-episode investigative documentary series which aired during prime time on TVN Canal 2 and won Best Documentary at the New York Television Festival, an Ícaro award for Best Television Production, and a National Journalism Award in 2006. The series was also nominated at the Monte Carlo TV Festival, where Benaim participated as a juror, at the Albuquerque International Film Festival, the Cadeci-Avenue de Paris Latin American Film Festival and Cinesul in Brazil. Gatopardo Magazine published an article applauding the series’ artistic quality and Rolling Stone Latin America named it No. 31 on the list of the 100 best TV programs of all time.
 
In 2006, Abner produced the “behind-the-scenes” of Mr. Lonely by US filmmaker Harmony Korine while the film featuring Werner Herzog, Samantha Morton and Diego Luna was being shot in Panama.
 
Benaim’s paintings have been shown at the 3^rd Central American and Caribbean Painting Biennale, at the 5^th and 6^th Central American Biennale, and at the 7^th Central American Isthmus Biennale, and in group exhibits in art galleries in Panama City. His painting "Un burro y un chino" was selected for the Panama Biennale in 2008.
 
In 2006, he published a book of Panamix photographs, edited and produced for First Lady Vivián Torrijos’ office in the Republic of Panama.