“Perception is real and the truth is not,” says Imelda Marcos in a new trailer for “The Kingmaker.” According to her son, the former first lady of the Philippines is “the best politician” he’s “ever seen.” Others “don’t have an answer for why we even allow Imelda to open her mouth.”
Lauren Greenfield’s doc explores Imelda’s dream to restore the legacy of the Marcos family by helping her son, Bongbong, win the vice-presidency. “To this end, Imelda confidently rewrites her family’s history of corruption, replacing it with a narrative of a matriarch’s extravagant love for her country,” the film’s synopsis details.
“I was always criticized for being excessive, but that is mothering,” Imelda claims in the spot. Her “mothering” famously involved owning 3,000 pairs of shoes and shipping in animals from Africa, among other luxuries.
The Marcos family was accused of stealing $10 billion from the Filipino people and exiled in 1986.
We’re told that the family “scrubbed clean the sins of the past.” In doing so, they paved the way for a shocking comeback story.
“I want people to think about how this story resonates within our own fragile democracy in the Trumpian Era, when manipulated information affects elections,” Greenfield told us. “Generation Wealth” and “The Queen of Versailles” are among her other credits.
“The Kingmaker” made its world premiere at this year’s Venice Film Festival. The Showtime doc hits theaters in LA and NY November 8.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Udbf4xQwWag&feature=youtu.be
