Alicia (Ilse Sales) is a Mexican architect who had a “perfect life” until her 6-year-old son died in an accident. Affected by his death, she gets wrapped up in guilt and pain and dissociates herself from everything. Her husband included.
Her world changes when she moves into an apartment at the Plaza Catedral, in Panama’s historic old town. There, she meets Alexis – nicknamed Chief, (Fernando Xavier De Casta), a streetwise boy who is a cart-sitter and insists on getting paid for it. Alicia, annoyed by the kid, keeps her distance. One night, Chief arrives at Alicia’s apartment bleeding from a gunshot wound. He begs her to let him in.
Alicia´s world is turned upside down. Soon, her rapport with him becomes maternal. It protects him, keeping the boy away from the danger of crime and from the violent family environment in which he lives.
Written-directed by Panamanian Abner Benaim and produced by Panamanian singer-songwriter Rubén Blades, Plaza Catedral explores social issues such as youth violence, race, class discrimination, exclusion, and other difficulties faced by young people in Latin America.
“I was interested in telling the story of two people who come from different worlds and have an unexpected encounter that changes their lives, both needing each other,” said the director in an interview at the Miami Film Festival. He confirmed that this work is inspired by his own experiences. He used to live in the apartment where the film was shot.
“The theme of social injustice in Latin America is clear in Panama because it’s a small country. I thought of it as a background for the story because I was interested in making a film about two people beyond social differences,” Benaim stressed. He admitted that the dividing line between wealth and extreme poverty “is not going to be erased by a movie.”
Benaim has directed the comedy Chances as well as the documentary Invasion (about the U.S. military intervention in Panama). He also did Ruben Blades is Not My Name, a nonfiction portrait of the famous Panamanian musician.
Benaim found first-time actor De Casta among 250 kids who participated in an open casting call to play the role of Chief. Shortly after the film wrapped, De Casta died in an incident similar to those depicted in the movie.
Fernando Xavier De Casta, barely 16 years old, was murdered in the district of San Miguelito, in June 2021. When the headline hit Panama, people could not imagine that the loss of yet another young life was that of a talented actor they would soon see on the big screen.
Ilse Sales, the lead actress who comes from Mexico, shared this message at the time: “We are all responsible for what happens in our society and we cannot leave aside the children of the neighborhoods with economic difficulties”.