The Changing Streets
“The Changing Streets” or “Las Calles Que Cambian” compels us to look at the people and culture that define Panama’s roots while living through the rehabilitation of gang member Alexis Quintero living in Casco Viejo, which is considered “the cradle of the republic of Panama.” He and his family struggle against the adversity that comes from gang life and the gentrification of their home and culture. Based on true events.
Many of the inhabitants of Casco Antiguo don’t want to leave despite the danger. They are worried about how their city will change over time.
Alexis Quintero learned to become an electrician on his own, despite his fear of it. He discusses how and why being a part of a gang will never leave you and you will never truly leave it or that life behind. It affects everyone around you, friends, family, coworkers. Everyone in your life must pay for your participation in a gang. His story is unique in the way that imprisonment helped change his outlook on life, making him want to change for the better. Having a son, Alexis Jr., also inspires him to work even harder.
Lili, a local writer and artist, talks about what Casco Viejo embodies and how it impacts the lives of those who live there with all the history it has gone through. The history is long and sad. Many people have lost their homes. Many parts have been abandoned for years. She talks about Casco Viejo’s “dark ages.”
This tender documentary reveals the beauty within the people and within the community as a whole. For example, Buenas Obras is a foundation that provides much needed humanitarian aid for the locals. People are brought closer and closer together each time they must overcome diversity.
Casco Viejo is a popular tourist destination. The wealth gap is growing ever greater as gentrification expands. It seems to some of the locals that Casco Viejo is for sale and there will be nothing left for them in the end to call their own. Some of them can’t even afford to buy new land in their own city because it is so expensive.
Despite all the diversity they have to overcome—socially, economically, emotionally—the Panamanians love their city and want to live there.
“The Changing Streets” is produced by Cameron Thuman and directed by Brianna Pressey, a documentary filmmaker that graduated from Chapman University. Her projects are socially and politically conscious, including a previous documentary about how people learn to hear with cochlear implants.
