MOVIES - March 19, 1993

Ban Overturned: The Panamanian government has overturned its ban on the Oscar-nominated documentary “The Panama Deception,” authorities said Thursday. A spokesman said an Interior Ministry appeals board decided to revoke the ban imposed by government censors “after long debate and analysis.” The move came the same day that the government received a protest letter signed by human rights and media groups, lawyers, journalists, the Australian Screen Directors Assn. and public figures including Cher and former California Gov. Jerry Brown. In addition, Panama’s journalists union, Sindicato del Periodista, had scheduled a Thursday night screening defying the ban, despite warnings that it would be fined $5,000. The film, which chronicles the 1989 U.S. invasion of Panama, was produced by the Empowerment Project, a Santa Monica-based activist group.