The Cinema of Paraguay has historically been small; however, this has begun to change in recent years with films like El Toque del Oboe (1998), MarÃa Escobar (2002), O Amigo Dunor (2005) which competed for Best Movie in the Rotterdam International Film Festival, and Hamaca Paraguaya (2006), which was screened at the Cannes Film Festival, gaining critical acclaim both in Paraguay and abroad.
History
The first films shot in Paraguay were a series of silent shorts by Argentine director Ernesto Gunche in 1905. The first Paraguayan-made film was Hipólito Carrón's 10-minute-long silent film Alma Paraguaya, made in 1925. He went on to make a number of short documentaries with his nephew and assistant cameraman AgustÃn Carrón Quell. A handful of documentaries were filmed in the country over the next few decades, though most of these are now lost. The 1932 documentary En el Infierno del Chaco by the Argentine Roque Funes was the first film shot in Paraguay to use sound.
Feature-length film in Paraguay beings with 1955's Codicia, the first of several Argentine-Paraguayan co-productions the most famous of which is probably La Burrerita de Ypacaraà from 1962. The film industry in Paraguay has historically suffered from lack of funds, public interest and equipment, as well as the repressive Alfredo Stroessner government of 1954â€"1989. Argentine director Lucas Demare chose to film La Sed (1961), an adaptation of Paraguayan author Augusto Roa Bastos's Hijo de hombre, in Argentina because of this. The exception to this was the 1978 state-funded film Cerro Cora, directed by Guillermo Vera, which promoted the historical and political views of the Stroessner government. This was the first wholly Paraguayan-made film and was based on the events of the Paraguayan War.
Only a handful of films were made in the country during the 1980s, though some Brazilian films were partly shot in the country. 1989 saw the overthrow of Stroessner and the re-establishment of democracy. Since then the situation has slowly been improving; in 1990 the Fundación Cinemateca del Paraguay was set up and the annual Asunción Film Festival inaugurated, and several new cinemas have been built in Asunción and other Paraguayan cities. The 1994 film Miss Ameriguá gained some international interest, as did 1998's El Toque del Oboe. This has continued into the new century with films such as MarÃa Escobar (2002), Miramenometokei (2003), Hamaca Paraguaya (2006), Felipe Canasto (2010) and Semana Capital (2010). Funding remains a problem however and the market is dominated largely by American and Argentine films.
List of Paraguayan directors
- Hipólito Carrón
- Manuel Cuenca
- Hugo Gamarra
- Galia Giménez
- AgustÃn Carrón Quell
- Guillermo Vera
- Luis Aguirre
- Hugo Cataldo Barudi
List of Paraguayan films
- Codicia (1955; Argentine co-production)
- El Trueno Entre Las Hojas (1956; Argentine co-production)
- La Sangre y la Semilla (1959; Argentine co-production)
- En la VÃa (1959; Argentine co-production)
- La Burrerita de Ypacaraà (1962; Argentine co-production)
- Cerro Cora (1978)
- A Cafetina de Meninas Virgens (1981; also known as Kapanga)
- Experimento Sicológico: Un DÃa en el Hospital NeurosiquÃatrico (1985; documentary)
- El Secreto de la Señora (1989)
- Miss Ameriguá (1994)
- El Portón de Los Sueños (1998; documentary)
- El Toque del Oboe (1998)
- MarÃa Escobar (2002)
- Réquiem Por Un Soldado (2002)
- Miramenometokei (2003)
- El Invierno de Gunter (2005)
- La Tierra ArdÃa (2005)
- O Amigo Dunor (2005; Brazilian co-production)
- Hamaca Paraguaya (2006)
- Universo Servilleta (2010)
- Felipe Canasto (2010)
- Semana Capital (2010)
- 7 Boxes (2012)
List of Paraguayan short films
- Alma Paraguaya (1925)
- La Catástrofe de Encarnación (1926)
- El que se aburra aquà es porque no sabe distraerse (1926)
- Desfile Militar (1926)
- El Que se Aburra Aquà es Porque No Sabe Distraerse (1926)
- Revista Militar en Campo Grande (1926)
- Campaña electoral con la presencia de Eligio Ayala (1927)
- El Señor Ministro del Interior (1927)
- Manifestación Frente al Congreso (1928)
- Vistas del Paraguay (1929)
- Sepelio de Eligio Ayala (1930)
- La Guerra del Chaco (1933)
- Paraguay, Tierra de Promisión (1937)
- Luna de Miel en Paraguay (1968)
- La Caza y la Perdiz (1968)
- La Represa de Acaray (1969)
- Safari en el Chaco (1969)
- Paraguay, Tierra de Progreso (1970)
- El Pueblo (1971)
- Estampas de Asunción (1971)
- Oikove Don Bosco (1972)
- Crisol de Gloria (1972)
- La Voluntad de un Pueblo (1973)
- Desde el Tejado (1986)
- Cariñoso (1986)
- Caños (1987)
- El Caso de Luis (1987)
- Rutina (1987)
- La Fiesta (1988)
- Proceso de Cambio (1988; documentary)
- Las Gaviotas no Hablan Inglés (1996)
- De Amor y de Guerra (1997)
- Emboscada, campo de concentración (1997)
- Abuso Sexual (1997)
- Asunción a Cuatro Tiempos (1997)
- Cachorros de León, la Batalla de Boqueron (1997)
- Caireles de Sangre, 23 de Octubre de 1931 (1997)
- Independencia (1997)
- La Selva Debe Vivir: Los Ache del Ã'acunday (1997)
- Los Yshyr de Karchavalut (1997)
- Estigarribia: Militar y Presidente (1998)
- El Siglo Que Se Va (2000)
- Una y Media (2001)
- Horno Ardiente (2002)
- Candida (2003)
- Estudio Para Una Siesta Paraguaya (2004)
- La Cajita Feliz (2004)
- La Permanencia (2007)
- Ahendu nde sapukai (Oigo tu grito) (2008)
- Karai Norte (2009)
- Fuego (2009)
- Don Policarpo & I: Travels with a Puppeteer (2009; documentary)
- Opción 2 (2010)
- Calle última (2010)
- La Tierra sin Mal (2010; documentary)
List of films shot in Paraguay
This list covers non-Paraguayan films (many Argentine or Brazilian) that were filmed,or partly filmed, there
- Desfile del marcial Cuerpo de Bomberos al mando del comandante González, donde aparece multitud de personas conocidas (1905)
- Su excelencia el presidente de la república Dr. Cecilio Báez, en compañÃa del ministro de guerra, Gral Benigno Ferreira (1905)
- Mercado central, mercado guazú (1905)
- Traslado de la Virgen de la Asunción de la iglesia hasta la casa particular (1905)
- Au coeur de l'Amérique du Sud (1924; documentary)
- Le Paraguay (1925; documentary)
- Les indiens du Gran-Chaco (1925; documentary)
- En el infierno del Chaco (1932/3)
- Paraguay, Tierra de Promisión (1937)
- India (1960)
- Paraguay, Corazón de América (1961)
- Le Rat d'Amérique (1963)
- Éxtasis Tropical (1969)
- Fuiste MÃa Un Verano (1969)
- O Amante de Minha Mulher (1978)
- Moonraker (1979; waterfall scenes)
- A Pantera Nua (1979)
- O Último Cão de Guerra (1979)
- República Guarani (1981; documentary)
- Vicios de Mujer (1982)
- Noites Paraguaias (1982)
- Zama (1984)
- The Mission (1986)
- Guerra do Brasil - Toda Verdade Sobre a Guerra do Paraguai (1987; documentary)
- Los Corruptores (1987)
- La Bailanta (1988)
- Desencuentros (1992)
- El Viaje (1992)
- Os Matadores (1997)
- Hoteles (2004)
- Cándido López - Los campos de batalla (2005)
- Miami Vice (2006; partly filmed in Ciudad del Este)
- The Pioneer of Paraguay (2009; South African documentary)
- South of the Border (2009; documentary film, features a brief interview with the former president Fernando Lugo in Asunción)
- El Niño Pez (2009)
- Las Acacias (2011)
List of films about Paraguay
This list covers non-Paraguayan films that deal with Paraguayan issues/topics, but are not filmed there. It also covers films in which Paraguay is made reference to.
- La Sed (1961; an adaptation of Augusto Roa Bastos's novel Hijo de Hombre set during the Chaco War)
- The Boys From Brazil (1978; a film about Nazi-hunters in Paraguay)
- Beyond the Limit (O Cônsul Honorário) (1983; Richard Gere's character is Paraguayan)
- Commando Mengele (1988; a film about Jewish Nazi-hunters in Paraguay)
- Moon Over Parador (1988; set in the fictional Latin American country of Parador, a portmanteau of Paraguay and Ecuador)
- One Man's War (1991 TV film; a film about Stroessner-era Paraguay starring Anthony Hopkins)
- Anaconda (1997; Jon Voight's character is from Paraguay)
- Grosse Point Blank (1997; features the line "I killed the president of Paraguay with a fork")
- Wedding Crashers (2005; Christopher Walken says a line about Paraguay)
- Alpha Dog (2006; the main character is said to have been caught by police in Paraguay)
See also
- Cinema of the world
References
External links
- Senses of Cinema - 'What does cinema mean for Paraguay?'
- Senses of Cinema - Interview with Hugo Gamarra Etcheverry, Paraguayan filmmaker
- Short article on modern Paraguayan cinema, focusing on Hamaca Paraguaya
- History of Paraguayn cinema (in Spanish)
- Short piece on Hamaca Paraguaya
- Review of Hamaca Paraguaya
- Critical review of Hamaca Paraguaya
- Review of Hamaca Paraguaya
- Review of Miss Ameriguá
- Review of Miss Ameriguá
- Article about Paraguayan cinema - pdf format (in Spanish)
- Article on early Paraguayan cinema (in Spanish)