Binomial with Argentina
The first Paraguayan film events date back to a series of silent shots shot in the country in 1905 by an Argentine director named Ernesto Gunche. It was not until 20 years later that the first Paraguayan film was made, the silent documentary Alma Paraguaya (1925), a ten-minute film about the Caacupé pilgrimage. The two directors, Hipólito Carrón and his nephew Agustín Carrón Quell, later filmed other silent documentaries in black and white, such as La Catástrofe de Encarnación, showing the ravages of the 1926 cyclone, or the funeral of President Eligio Ayala, assassinated in 1930. Several other documentaries were shot in those years, although they are now virtually all lost. The first fictions made in Paraguay date back to the 1950s, directed by Argentines, with Paraguayan actors. The feature film Codicia (1955) by Italian-Argentinean director Catrano Catrani is the first in a long line of Argentine-Paraguayan co-productions, the best known of which is probably Armando Bó's La Burrerita de Ypacaraì (1962). The film tells us the story of Isabel, a beautiful farmer's daughter, who falls in love with the wrong man, causing them both to lose their lives at the Iguazú Falls. A talented screenwriter emerges from the 1950s and 1960s: Augusto Roa Bastos. His work La Sed (1961), set during the Chaco War between Bolivia and Paraguay, is an adaptation of his novel Son of Man.
From dictatorship to a timid breakthrough
In the 1970s, several documentaries were made by the group Cine Arte Experimental (CAE), formed by the writer Jesús Ruiz Nestosa, the journalist Antonio Pecci and the director of photography Carlos Saguier, among others. Unfortunately, due to the lack of funding, public interest and, above all, the censorship of Alfredo Stroessner's dictatorship, the film industry in Paraguay is suffering and lagging far behind the rest of the world. In 1978, one work is an exception to all this oppression: Cerro Corá. This historical fiction by Guillermo Vera, based on episodes from the Triple Alliance War, is financed by the regime in power and is in fact a real plea for Stroessner's policies. The 1980s saw the appearance of a wave of short films, such as Hugo Gamarra's Peregrinación a Caacupé, Ray Armele's Liberada and Bernardo Ismachovie's Ya no hay islas. Some Brazilian productions are also coming to Paraguay. The year 1989 heralded the return of democracy in the country and in 1990, the Fundación Cinemateca del Paraguay was created and the Asunción Film Festival was inaugurated. The 1990s also bring us the very good Miss Ameriguá (1993), directed by the Chilean Luis Véra, as well as El Toque del Oboe (1998) by Cláudio Mac Dowell, which tells how the sound of anoboe will change the life of a small village.
Marcelo Martinessi and Paz Encina
Among the directors who have been noticed in recent years, two have been involved in highlighting Paraguay in the world of cinema. Marcelo Martinessi is the director of Karaí Norte (2009), a short film based on a tale by Carlos Villagra Marsa; The Lost Voice (2016), which won the Venice Horizons Award for Best Short Film at the 73rd Venice Film Festival; and above all, he is the director and producer of the magnificent feature film The Heiresses (2018). Chela and Chiquita, both in their sixties, live in a luxurious villa in Asunción. After squandering their family inheritance, Chiquita is imprisoned on a fraud charge and Chela works as a taxi driver in her private car. Chela meets Angy, a young woman who will turn her life upside down. Les Héritières stands out at the 68th Berlinale (Berlin Film Festival), where the film not only wins the Silver Bear for Best Actress for Ana Brun, but also the Alfred Bauer Prize (awarded to a film with an innovative and singular vision). Director Paz Encina is another committed figure in today's Paraguayan cinema. Her feature film Hamaca Paraguaya (2006), shot entirely in Guaraní, tells the story of Cándida and Ramón, an elderly peasant couple waiting for the return of their son, who was mobilised for the Chaco war. The film won numerous awards, including the FIPRESCI (International Critics' Prize) in the Un Certain Regard section at the 59th Cannes Film Festival.
Out of the shadows
At the 2009 Cannes Film Festival, Joaquin Baldwin won first prize in the short film competition with El Vaudou de Sebastián. A little later came Felipe Canasto by Dario Cardono (2011) and Cuchillo de Palo (2010), Renate Costa's harrowing and moving documentary about homosexuality in Paraguay under the Stroessner dictatorship. 7 Cajas, the debut film by Tana Schémbori and Juan Carlos Maneglia, released in 2012, marks a turning point for Paraguayan cinema. It is the biggest success in its history, with more than 500,000 tickets sold in a country where there are around 30 cinemas. This thriller with typical characters places its plot in the Mercado Cuatro d'Asunción. The humorous jopará (a mixture of Spanish and Guarani) dialogues and the thrilling suspense of this work are to be applauded. Other films have had some success in recent years: Herib Godoy's Latas Vacías (2013) and La Redención (2018), Luna de Cigarras (2014), El Tiempo Nublado (2014), Hospital de Pobres (2018), El supremo Manuscrito (2019) and Matar a un muerto (2019).
And as for foreign films featuring Paraguay, there is of course Roland Joffé's The Great Mission (1986), starring Robert de Niro and Jeremy Irons, set amidst the magnificent landscapes of the Iguazú Falls. The film received the Palme d'Or at the Cannes Film Festival that year. Another example is Argentina's El Niño Pez (2008) by Lucia Puenzo (starring the talented Inés Efron and Mariela Vitale), part of which is set on the side of Lake Ypoá.
