In Pursuit of Panama
In Pursuit of Panama chronicles the life-changing adventure that ensues after best-friends Ryan Swan and Garrett Martin inform friends and family that they intend to drive a fatigued, old Volkswagen from their hometown in Oregon to the far end of Central America. It manages to be both an unscripted as-it-happens documentary that shares an intimate, quarter-life-crisis adventure, as well as a thoughtful and poetic allegorical tale that contains the kind of strong, engaging narrative arc usually reserved for fiction. The film takes the audience on the road and inside the minds of the protagonists, where physical journeys serve as keen metaphors for inner journeys, and inner journeys are elucidated by the people Garrett and Ryan meet along the way. With moments that oscillate between hilarious and poignant, In Pursuit of Panama is a film about the paths we take in that distinctive transition from youth to adulthood-a thoughtful look at the inhibitions that trap us and the freedoms we may attain, at the possibilities of our dreams, and the real, tangible practicalities of them.