Contemporary Central American film cultures can be conceptualized as small, postconflict, and post-Third-Worldist cinemas that, in absence of strong state-regulated support structures, have come to rely heavily on their relations to national and regional film festivals. This article focuses on the AcampaDOC International Documentary Film Festival in Panama and its efforts to establish a platform for the training of young Ibero-American filmmakers and for the annual convergence of some of the region's best-connected film professionals as mentors and experts. The paper discusses findings from an ethnographic fieldwork and refers to a network analysis of production relations in the region. The network of film professionals and film festivals, as well as the festival's educational principles, demonstrate an embeddedness in the projects of New Latin American Cinemas and the Escuela Internacional de Cine y Television in Cuba.