The Kingmaker: Imelda Marcos

Imelda Marcos, widow of Ferdinand Marcos the former president of The Philippines, is engraved in everyone’s memory as the woman with the many shoes.  Award-winning filmmaker Lauren Greenfield (2018, Generation Wealth, 2012, Queen of Versailles) follows this eccentric woman as she confidently rewrites her family’s history of corruption, replacing it with a narrative of a matriarch’s love of her country.

People probably wonder, whatever happened to Imelda Marcos? After fleeing to Haiti with her late husband Ferdinand Marcos to escape a popular uprising in 1986, she is now back from exile.  Seemingly having learnt very little from this experience, she continues to live a life of unashamed opulence, whilst presenting herself as the nation’s mother figure. At the same time, the film sketches a picture of the devastating corruption in the country. Money and power seem to maintain each other. And where does all the Marcos money come from?

The Kingmaker: Imelda Marcos revisits the extravagance of this controversial figure, whilst exposing the disturbing legacy of the Marcos regime, right up to the current political climate in The Philippines.

In an age where fake news manipulates elections, Imelda’s comeback story serves as a timely dark fairytale.