The Kingmaker

Lauren Greenfield's 2019 documentary is about the present-day political influence of Imelda Marcos, former first lady of the Philippines. Greenfield obtained wide access, and Marcos presents her own account to camera, in her own home, among her own possessions. The documentary relays that account as it stands and then sets the record against it: the torture and imprisonment of the dictatorship years, the wealth taken out of the country and what the public paid for it. One of its most striking sections concerns her importing African animals to an island in the seventies, for which the island's inhabitants were removed; those animals now live with the results of neglect and inbreeding. The film also follows the family's return to politics and shows how the past is being rewritten. It premiered at Venice. Who it's for: viewers who follow political documentary and work on the memory of authoritarian rule. Who it's not for: anyone expecting neutral presentation; the film openly takes a side.