The Last Son of Panama

(Click image below to watch documentary)

Full of heart, hope and heroics, The Last Son of Panama is a documentary that follows the origin story of Jadiel Dowlin Lewis, an Emmy nominated actor and filmmaker, who shares his experience being from one of Canada’s smallest group of immigrants: Panamanians. Since with great culture comes great responsibility, Jadiel goes on a quest to find like-minded Panamanian Canadian creatives who are championing superheroic Black representation. But with the odds stacked against Jadiel, will he find any…?

Written, directed and co-produced by Jadiel.

Premiered across Canada in Toronto, Halifax, Ottawa, Vancouver, Calgary, and Montreal.

It can be viewed in Canada on the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation (CBCGem ) -

Absolutely Canadian series, Season 24, Being Black in Toronto.

CBC Article

WGC's Script of the Month: Black Black Comedy

Jadiel's pilot of his latest created TV show "Black Black Comedy" was selected by the Writers Guild of Canada as the Script of the Month - March 2024. 

First series in development!

Jadiel's  first TV series Jadiel is a young adult supernatural mixed-media adventure series: Zombra: Ghoul Detective. Zombra is a Black-Latina teen girl who uses her special investigative talents to solve otherworldly mysteries.

Rogers-BSO $750,000 Script Development Fund

Click here to access the BSO article.

Click here to access Playback article.

Corus' Media Release - click here


Toronto Metropolitan University Article - click here

Why the name "Istmo"?

Born in Canada, Jadiel is proud of his unique and rich cultural background. His parents emigrated from Panama, instilling the importance of embracing his Afro Caribbean heritage and fluently speaking Spanish.

The most well-known "isthmus" is the Republic of Panama. It joins North America / Central America with South America. Definition of “Istmo” (Spanish for isthmus): a narrow strip of land connecting two larger masses of land. It is pronounced: eest-moh.
The same way the "Panama Canal" unites the world through commerce, "Istmo Productions unites the world through powerful storytelling"!

Their stories include dynamic, diverse, and memorable characters that undergo transformative arcs and their compelling narratives balance pertinent social issues with suspenseful cinematic themes. Their productions are based on drama, action, science-fiction, thriller, and dramedy, and are influenced by Latino/Hispanic and Afro Caribbean descent communities around the world.

A prehistoric beginning!

His writing journey began with pitching Dino Dana episodes

Jadiel's passion for writing is revealed through story telling! He is one of the youngest members of the Writers Guild of Canada and has written for the Emmy award winning, action adventure kids television series Dino Dana. It tells the tale of a 10-year-old paleontologist-in-training who embarks on a series of adventures with dinosaurs. Check out Dino Dana on Amazon Prime Video and TVO Kids in Canada.

Jadiel wrote 3 Dino Dana episodes

Click each image below to view the episode!

Growing Up Dino

Flying Expectations

Dinosauroid Dana