Trailer Released for Lauren Greenfield's 'The Kingmaker,' Documentary on Rise, Fall and Rise Again of Imelda Marcos

The Kingmaker, named to DOC NYC shortlist, opens in theaters in LA and New York November 8

Lauren Greenfield's new documentary The Kingmaker will hit theaters in New York and Los Angeles on November 8, Showtime Documentary Films announced on Monday as it released a new trailer for the film. The theatrical run will qualify the film on former Philippines first lady Imelda Marcos for Oscar consideration this year.

The Kingmaker premiered at the Venice Film Festival before heading to Telluride and then the Toronto International Film Festival last month. It was named last week to the DOC NYC shortlist of the best documentaries of the year.

​I was just so fascinated by her comeback story, really, after the things we all remembered, which was fleeing the Philippines and leaving in the palace 3,000 pairs of shoes.

--Director Lauren Greenfield on why she wanted to make The Kingmaker

The Kingmaker examines Imelda's outsize role in the history of the Philippines, as the wife of President Ferdinand Marcos and mother of a political dynasty. She was her country's first lady for over 20 years (1965-1986), as her husband assumed greater and greater dictatorial powers. But the People's Power Revolution of 1986 drove the couple into a hasty exile in Hawaii. They were allegedly able to afford a comfortable lifestyle there, having looted the Philippines treasury of billions of dollars.

Greenfield secured interviews with Mrs. Marcos, now 90, who returned to the Philippines in 1991 after the death of Ferdinand Marcos. She went on to serve four terms in the Philippines' Congress and has been instrumental in the political rise of her son, Bongbong Marcos.

"I was just so fascinated by her comeback story, really, after the things we all remembered, which was fleeing the Philippines and leaving in the palace 3,000 pairs of shoes," Greenfield told Nonfictionfilm.com. "I started filming with her in 2014... I wanted to go over and see what had become of her." 
​
Watch the trailer here: 

​The Kingmaker is produced by Frank Evers and Lauren Greenfield of Evergreen Pictures for Showtime. Julie Parker Benello, Dan Cogan, R.J. Cutler, Geralyn Dreyfous, Bill Haney, Lilly Hartley, Patricia Lambrecht, Nion McEvoy, Patty Quillin, Regina K. Scully and Jamie Wolf serve as executive producers.

---

Related:
>The Kingmaker director Lauren Greenfield on her evolving sense of Imelda Marcos: 'The story and the character I found was much more complex'

---