Filmographies - films at UST by Country: Panama

The Panama Canal, one of history's greatest engineering achievements, was the 'moonshot' of its time. For more than 50 years, men, nations and technology were pitted against the climate, diseases and terrain of Panama in a struggle that was as dramatic and costly as any war. ... America was disinterested until the Spanish-American War of 1898 threw the need for a canal into focus. Nicaragua, however, had been American's favored place for a canal, and there was absolutely no desire to follow in the footsteps of the ill-fated French. Extraordinary political maneuvers soon resulted in the birth of Panama as a separate nation as well as in a treaty most favorable to the United States. Thus, in 1904, the stage was set for the successful American construction of the canal at Panama. It [took] the Americans ten years to span the isthmus, and they did so in a dramatic engineering feat unequaled in its time. ... This important event in history is brought to life by hundreds of archival photographs dating from 1850 to 1914. Color maps, live footage and animation interspersed throughout the film [bring] ... insight to the unique problems and solutions in the building of the canal at Panama.

For almost a century, one of the world's most important waterways has let ships make a commercially critical shortcut between the Atlantic and Pacific oceans. But many of today's ships are too big for the man-made canal. Follow teams of European and American engineers as they compete for a winning lock design that will widen the Canal. Project planners try to strike a balance between risk and reward, a faulty design could lead to an accident that cripples world trade, but the increased shipping revenue from a wider canal would be monumental. Join designers as they struggle to enlarge the aging lock chambers, great slabs of steel that currently pass within inches of ships' hulls. Meanwhile, landscape architects navigate through treacherous mountain passes and guard against mudslides, a constant threat on the isthmus.

Filmed in Costa Rica and Panama, learn first-hand about the history behind the sloth from its earliest discovery to present day. Discover how conservation efforts are protecting the sloth and its habitat which is under constant threat from development. Also hear from scientists and animal experts on how efforts at rescue centers set up especially for sloths are contributing to better understand them.

On August 15th, 1914, the Panama Canal opened, connecting the world's two largest oceans and signaling Americas emergence as a global superpower. American ingenuity and innovation had succeeded where, just a few years earlier, the French had failed disastrously. But the U.S. paid a price for victory: More than a decade of ceaseless, grinding toil, an outlay of more than 350 million dollars--the largest single federal expenditure in history to that time--and the loss of more than 5,000 lives. Along the way, Central America witnessed the brazen overthrow of a sovereign government, a revolutionary public health campaign, the backbreaking removal of hundreds of million of tons of earth, and the construction on a unprecedented scale.

Offers a view of the 1989 invasion of Panama that was not given by the American media. Presents evidence of mass burials of civilian casualties and internment of homeless civilians which was concealed by the U.S. military or went unreported. Also claims to reveal President Bush's "secret agenda" behind the invasion: to keep U.S. military bases in Panama after the year 2000 in defiance of canal treaties.

Did you know that U.S. taxpayers foot the bill for a school on U.S. soil that has graduated some of the worst human rights violators in the hemisphere? Since it was established in 1946, the United States Army School of the Americas has trained thousands of Latin American and Caribbean soldiers. Among them, we learn in the expose, are the former dictators of Argentina, Bolivia, Honduras and Panama.

Looks at the relationship between the US and Latin America. Turns a critical eye toward the invasions of Grenada and Panama and the occupation of Haiti. Respectively, these operations were ordered by Presidents Reagan, Bush and Clinton. Extensive footage shows American forces in action, and foreign policy experts examine the stated goals and results. Interviews Dr. Robert A. Pastor who personnally negotiated with Panamanian strongman Manuel Noriega and Haitian dictator Raoul Cedras.