Two years later, Mr. da Silva, the widely popular former president who was the favorite candidate for the 2018 presidential election, was barred from running and thrown in jail in what seemed like the perfect ending to a long-running reality show.

Sérgio Moro, the judge responsible for Mr. da Silva’s imprisonment, was rewarded with an appointment as justice minister after Mr. Bolsonaro won the presidency. The election of Mr. Bolsonaro, an obscure, homophobic and misogynistic far-right-wing congressman, was itself a result of an extraordinary disinformation campaign on social media. Over 98 percent of his electorate was exposed to one or more fake-news headlines during the campaign, and nearly 90 percent of his supporters believed they were true, according to study by Avaaz, an online nonprofit organization. His government has mastered the art of manipulating the truth.

In “The Edge of Democracy” I trace Brazil’s political history in recent decades through my own family story. My grandfather co-founded one of the country’s largest construction companies, which was one of the contractors investigated by Operation Car Wash. My parents, who were left-wing militants, were arrested during the dictatorship (1964-1985) and, then, spent years underground doing grass-roots work with students and workers in the south of Brazil.

Their ideas made me believe that a better Brazil, one that is less unequal and not ruled by corrupt and authoritarian elites, was possible. I voted for Mr. da Silva with the hope that he would bring about much-needed political change. Then I saw him forming alliances with the country’s oligarchy, a grim reminder of the practices and the corruption he claimed to end.

People around the world who have watched the documentary have identified with my fears and hopes, and my attempt to discern the facts from all the fiction shaping Brazil’s future. They connect with my film because they see their democracies under a similar peril. What initially felt like isolated cases (in India, Brazil and Turkey) has turned into a global epidemic. The film criticizes leaders who attempt to silence divergent thinking. Maybe this is the reason some authoritarian far-right politicians, in Brazil and abroad, want to brand journalistic efforts to unveil the truth as fiction and fake news.

It is interesting that “Lügenpresse,” or “Lying press,” was a slogan widely used in Germany during the Third Reich to discredit any journalist who disagreed with the government’s position.

Efforts to discredit an honest press have been particularly devastating in my country. However, the influence of disinformation campaigns extends well beyond partisan politics. Since 2019, far-right elites and religious conservative groups have been waging a culture war at levels not seen since the hard years of military dictatorship.