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Cinema of Paraguay

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Cinema of Paraguay
No. of screens71 (2016)[1]
 • Per capita0.5 per 100,000 (2010)
Main distributors[2]
Produced feature films (2002-2015)[3]
Total76 (average)
Fictional40
Animated0
Documentary36

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); María Escobar (2002); O Amigo Dunor (2005), which competed for Best Movie in the Rotterdam International Film Festival;[4] Hamaca Paraguaya (2006), which was screened at the Cannes Film Festival,[5] gaining critical acclaim both in Paraguay and abroad; 7 cajas (2012); Latas Vacías (2014); and Luna de Cigarras (2014).

History

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The first films shot in Paraguay were a series of silent shorts by Argentine director Ernesto Gunche in 1905.[6] The first Paraguayan-made film was Hipólito Carrón's 10-minute-long silent Alma Paraguaya, made in 1925. He went on to make a number of short documentaries with his nephew and assistant cameraman Agustín 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 Ypacaraí 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 1954–1989. 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 Paraguay 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 María 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.

In 2015 Paraguay submitted its first entry for consideration for the Academy Award for Best Foreign Language Film, Arami Ullon's documentary Cloudy Times.[7]

In September 2017, the Film Academy of Paraguay chose its second candidate for the Oscar award, Los buscadores ("Gold Seekers") by Juan Carlos Maneglia and Tana Schémbori, directors of 7 Boxes. Memory Exercises by Paz Encina was also nominated for a Goya Award in Spain.[8]

In October 2017, the Senate approved with half sanction the bill of Audiovisual Promotion, with which the National Film Institute of Paraguay could be created.[9]

List of Paraguayan directors

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List of Paraguayan films

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Main article: List of Paraguayan films

List of Paraguayan short films

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List of films shot in Paraguay

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This list covers non-Paraguayan films (many Argentine or Brazilian) that were filmed, or partly filmed, there.

List of films about Paraguay

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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.

See also

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References

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  1. ^ "Paraguay tendrá 27 nuevas salas de cine".
  2. ^ "Table 6: Share of Top 3 distributors (Excel)". UNESCO Institute for Statistics. Archived from the original on 24 December 2018. Retrieved 5 November 2013.
  3. ^ "Average national film production". UNESCO Institute for Statistics. Archived from the original on 23 October 2013. Retrieved 5 November 2013.
  4. ^ "O amigo Dunor | IFFR".
  5. ^ "Hamaca Paraguaya".
  6. ^ "Portal Guarani - Manuel Cuenca - HISTORIA DEL AUDIOVISUAL EN EL PARAGUAY (Por MANUEL CUENCA)".
  7. ^ "Oscars: Paraguay Selects 'Cloudy Times' as its Academy Award Entry". Variety. 3 September 2015. Retrieved 3 September 2015.
  8. ^ "La Nación / Los Buscadores y Ejercicios de Memoria, preseleccionadas para el Oscar y el Goya".
  9. ^ "Senado aprueba ley de fomento audiovisual".
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