back

Bajo las banderas, el sol

Under the Flags, the Sun
Panorama Dokumente 2025
In 1989, the fall of Alfredo Stroessner’s 35-year dictatorship in Paraguay marked the end of one of the world’s longest-running authoritarian regimes. It also led to the abandonment of the audiovisual archives that had cemented its power. This material, crafted to shape a national identity and celebrate the regime, was left to fade from memory. Decades later, a trove of unseen and long-forgotten footage – in the form of newsreels, public television broadcasts, propaganda films and declassified documents – has been recovered from both Paraguay and abroad and reveals the hidden mechanisms of power behind Stroessner’s rule. The Paraguayan found footage shows how the past is appropriated to indoctrinate as well as the construction of a national imagery and the cult of Stroessner. The foreign archives tell of the Cold War, international alliances and the power games that allowed the dictatorship to prosper, in addition to denouncing propaganda and oppression. The film is a visual journey through the history of the media of the 20th century and delivers an archaeology of the present in a country where the descendants of the regime’s leaders still rule.

Trailer/Film Excerpt

To view this content, you must enable third-party cookies. >
by Juanjo Pereira (Director, Screenplay) Paraguay / Argentina / USA / France / Germany 2025 Guarani, Spanish, German, French, English, Portuguese 90' Colour & Black/White World premiere | Debut film | Documentary form

Crew

Director Juanjo Pereira
Screenplay Juanjo Pereira
Cinematography Francisco Bouzas
Editing Manuel Embalse
Music Julián Galay, Andrés Montero Bustamante
Sound Design Julián Galay
Producers Juanjo Pereira, Ivana Urizar, Gabriela Sabaté, Paula Zyngierman, Leandro Listorti
Executive Producers Juanjo Pereira, Gabriela Sabaté, Ivana Urizar, Paula Zyngierman, Leandro Listorti, Hernán Mazzeo, Trevor Burgess, James Costa, Sofía Lena Monardo, Daniela Martínez Nannini

Produced by

Cine Mío

Asunción, Paraguay

Juanjo Pereira

Asunción, Paraguay

MaravillaCine

Buenos Aires, Argentina

Sabaté Films

Asunción, Paraguay

Co-produced by

Lardux Films

Paris, France

Bird Street Productions

Los Angeles, USA

weltfilm

Berlin, Germany

World Sales

Cinephil

Tel Aviv, Israel

Photos

Juanjo Pereira

The filmmaker, researcher and producer creates essay films and video installations. The Paraguayan film archive forms his research field and his projects often explore the areas of modern infrastructure and everyday built landscapes. He is the artistic director and co-founder of the Asunción International Contemporary Film Festival. His work has been invited to several film festivals.

Filmography

2018 Pokhot (Lust); short documentary, co-director: Tomas Faiman 2019 Les petits événements dans le gris moyen (Small Events in Medium Gray); short documentary 2020 Testigos en tensión (Witnesses in Tension); short documentary 2021 El futuro imposible (The Impossible Future); short documentary 2025 Bajo las banderas, el sol (Under the Flags, the Sun); documentary

Bio- & filmography as of Berlinale 2025