In 1989, the 35-year dictatorship of Alfredo Stroessner in Paraguay came to an end. Juanjo Pereira’s documentary “Under the Flags, the Sun” revisits this era, shedding new light on its historical significance. The film, Pereira’s feature-length directorial debut, is set to premiere at the Berlin International Film Festival.
“Under the Flags, the Sun” uncovers the hidden mechanisms of power during Stroessner’s rule through recovered footage, including newsreels, public television broadcasts, propaganda films, and declassified documents. This material, crafted to shape national identity and celebrate the regime, was left to fade from memory. Decades later, a trove of unseen and long-forgotten footage has been recovered from both Paraguay and abroad.
The documentary aims to show how this recovered footage reveals the past’s appropriation to indoctrinate society and construct a national imagery that celebrated Stroessner. The trailer includes footage in both black and white and color, showcasing the propaganda used to maintain Stroessner’s image. Pereira explains that in Paraguayan primary and secondary schools, they don’t teach about Stroessner’s dictatorship or the many other regimes in the country’s history.
He made the film to piece together found archives and understand how that era shaped contemporary Paraguayan society, thoughts, and emotions.
Revisiting Paraguay’s dictatorship through film
“Though I did not live through these events, they feel ever-present, shaping my worldview and deepest emotions,” Pereira says.
“In a rural country where fear silences voices — of losing land, livelihood, or security — Paraguay remains isolated in the regional press, its people carrying a somber silence. Unlike its Latin American neighbors, Paraguay never truly engaged in a memory exercise after its last dictatorship.”
“Under the Flags, the Sun” was produced by Ivana Urízar for Cine Mío, Paula Zyngierman and Leandro Listorti for MaravillaCine, Gabriela Sabaté for Sabaté Films, and by Pereira himself. It was co-produced by Bird Street Production and Lardux Films, with Welt Film as the associate producer.
Cinephil is handling worldwide sales rights. The film is featured in the Panorama Dokumente program at the Berlinale and is one of the few documentaries from Paraguay to make it into the festival lineup. Co-managing directors of Cinephil, Suzanne Nodale and Shoshi Korman, remark, “Juano Pereira’s film is more than just a historical documentary.
It’s an urgent examination of how media shapes power and collective memory. Through a creative use of archival material interwoven with a modern perspective, the film exposes mechanisms of control that still resonate today. It’s a powerful work.”