Under the Flags, the Sun

Bajo las banderas, el sol

Director: Juanjo Pereira
Country: Paraguay, Argentina, USA, Germany, France

2025 | 90 min. | Guarani, Spanish, German, French, English, Portuguese
Subtitles: German, English

Screenplay_ Juanjo Pereira Camera_ Francisco Bouzas Producer_ Juanjo Pereira, Ivana Urizar, Gabriela Sabaté, Paula Zyngierman, Leandro Listorti Rights_ Cinephil

An epic recovery of archival material thought to be lost, from one of the longest dictatorships in history! The medium of film itself becomes the subject.

Alfredo Stroessner’s dictatorship in Paraguay lasted a whole 35 years. When it finally ended, the film archives that had helped sustain his power were shut down. The footage meant to forge national identity and glorify the regime was lost. Or at least, that’s what people thought. This forgotten material has now been rediscovered. News broadcasts from state television, propaganda films, and once-secret documents reveal the mechanisms of indoctrination and the cult of the leader.

A gripping journey through 20th-century media history and a warning to us all from a country where the descendants of the regime’s leaders still hold power.

Director

Filmmaker, researcher, and producer Juanjo Pereira creates essay films and video installations. His research focuses on Paraguay’s film archives, particularly as they relate to modern infrastructure and everyday landscapes. He is the artistic director and co-founder of the Asunción International Contemporary Film Festival. His works have been screened at numerous film festivals.

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