Panama, July 21, 2026. - The daily use of mobile phone has stopped being just a means of personal communication to become an instrument of historic and cinematographic registration in communities far from urban centers of the country. Through the initiative "Microhistories Móvil - Storias que Viajan," the National Cinema Office of the Ministry of Culture has implemented a model of audiovisual training that trains citizens to use digital tools for the creation of community works.

The programme completed, during its fifth national cycle, five territorial interventions distributed in the provinces of Darién, Bocas del Toro and Veraguas, as well as the Ngäbe-Buglé and Guna Yala indigenous communities. The methodology, structured in intensive four-day workshops, includes theoretical and practical instruction in audiovisual, narrative and community production with technical accompaniment from facilitators of the University Film Experimental Group.

At the day held at Changuinola, the project called 50 students from the race of Geography and History at the Regional University Centre of Bocas del Toro, with 27 women and 23 men. The participants applied mobile recording techniques to document social, cultural and local traditions dynamics during the commemorations of Afro-descendant heritage in the region.

The report of the national film department's annual cycle found that 188 people had been trained among children, youth, university students and cultural managers and that this training had resulted in the final production of 12 community short films, and they had been presented at public display sessions at an accumulated hearing of about 2,000 assistants in the different communities concerned.

The audiovisual works that have resulted from the five intervented regions will be part of the National Sample of Mobile Microhistories, scheduled for November 19 at the City of the Arts.

The National Cinema Management confirmed the continuation of this Community production methodology for the next period, with a cover plan that includes interventions in Taboga, Western Panama, Eastern Panama, Los Santos, Chiriquí, Colón and the Comarca Emberá