On Thursday, October 17th Showtime and Bloomberg held a special screening and Q & A for The Kingmaker at The Whitby Hotel. The documentary Directed and Written by Lauren Greenfield follows Imelda Marcos a Filipino politician who was the first lady of the Philippines for over 20 years. During her time in office, Imelda and her late husband Ferdinand Marcos were accused of stealing between five and ten billion dollars of government money to support a luxurious lifestyle that included extravagant parties, constant travel, tons of jewelry and a shoe collection with over a thousand pairs of designers from Chanel to Louis Vuitton because of this, the Marcos quickly received notoriety for living a lavish life despite living in a country with an ongoing economic crisis, poverty, and crime.
Although Imelda Marcos is no longer in power, she is attempting to regain power through her son Bong Bong and her political ties with the current president Rodrigo Duterte.
After the screening, a Q&A was held with Director and Writer Lauren Greenfield and special guest Andy Bautista who is the former head of the PCGG and former head of the elections, who appears in the documentary check out a few their responses
What is the message behind this film?
“If you don’t remember the past you’re condemned to repeat it, that became the story of the movie.” – Lauren Greenfield
How do you think people are gonna take the film?
“Many people, Filipino Americans should watch so they are given an alternative view because people have forgotten its been 30-35 years. This movie presents a very noble objective our advocacy is to let people watch it and from there to make an informed judgment about the real situation.” -Andy Bautista
What do you hope people get from this?
“I think for us this is a cautionary tale about how fragile our democracy is almost the whole time we were shooting in the Philippines it was a democracy-loving place people were proud of the democracy loved it and in one election to think it could be this shift as we see our democratic institution is under threat many of the same ones as this film it becomes a cautionary tale for us.” – Lauren Greenfield
“Learning lessons from the past the last line in the film is very relevant about how the past can be erased scrubbed and changed and I think people have to be provided with greater information and must be taught constructive thinking. sunlight is the best-disinfected that’s continuing to get information out there so people can get another side of the story.” -Andy Bautista
The Kingmaker isn’t only a jaw-dropping experience but a moving cautionary tale that is a must-see.
Fun Fact: Imelda and Ferdinand Marcos are in the Guinness World Record book for the greatest government robbery of all time!