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In 1979, political revolution swept through Nicaragua as the Sandinista National Liberation Front, a Socialist Democratic party, sought to overthrow the military dictatorship of Anastasio Somoza Debayle. To many on the political left in Europe and South America, the rise of the Sandinistas seemed an opportunity to bring a government responsive to the needs of the people to power in Latin America, and many provided support to the Sandinistas, with a large contingent from Spain taking up arms in Nicaragua, believing that revolution could succeed in Nicaragua where it had failed under in the war to defeat Franco. However, the United States government also believed that the Sandinistas had a real chance to bring a Marxist government to Nicaragua, and extensive public and covert support (both military and financial) was given to the Contras battling the Sandinistas, raising the stakes of the war and crippling the opportunity for a true people's revolution. Filmmaker Joan López Lloret uses vintage newsreels, Sandinista propaganda films and interviews with people who joined the cause for Nicaragua to tell the story of the revolution and its aftermath in Utopia 79, which examines the successes and failures of the Sandinistas during their years in power. Utopia 79 was an official selection at the 2008 London International Documentary Festival.