When your mother names you after Maureen O'Hara, odds are that film will feature highly in your life. So it was for Maureen Moya, administrator of the Centro Comercial Lindora along the radial highway connecting the western towns of Santa Ana and San Antonio de Belén. She grew up with a love of cinema, especially alternative film, and when space became available to the rear of the mall, the idea seeded itself for a cinema dedicated to independent movies far different from the usual fare of mainstream Hollywood blockbusters.

Panama's western Chiriquí province has a lot more going for it than its proximity to Costa Rica, although many first-time visitors do pop over the border to shop or renew their Costa Rican tourist visas. They don't have to travel very far, however, to figure out that Chiriquí has plenty of attractions, from its misty mountain forests flashing with the colors of birds on the wing to the pristine beaches of its Pacific islands.