Der Traum des Sandino

19 months after the fall of the dictator Somoza, the Austrian film team travels across Nicaragua for seven weeks (from August 4th to September 20th, 1980) and gathers information, mostly from farmers, workers, market women and soldiers. We are shown life in the Fincas, the agricultural co-operatives, in a banana plantation of Standard Fruit, a private corporation, in the "Carlos Roberto Huembes Hospital" in La Esperanza which is run by Austrians. A report on Nicaragua of 1980 which discusses the dream of the murdered freedom fighter of Nicaragua, General C.A. Sandino and whether it has been realized and answers this question affirmativeley. In spite of the present and threatening difficulties, the film is optimistic.

Directed by Margareta Heinrich, Rudi Palla, Der Traum des Sandino leans on a strong ensemble — Johanna Tomek, Linde Prelog, Günter Peiritsch — to carry a story that balances spectacle with character.

The film landed with audiences for its craft and performances, and remains one of the most talked-about documentary titles of 1981.