Podtalk: Director Lauren Greenfield Crowns ‘The Kingmaker’

CHICAGO – It has almost become a sure fact of life that film documentaries have become a focused way to receive vital news/information. Documentarian Lauren Greenfield (“Generation Wealth”) exposes a revelation in “The Kingmaker” … that the Marcos family, once part of a dictatorship, is coming back to power in the Philippines.

Imelda Marcos and Her Gilded Life in ‘The Kingmaker’
Photo credit: Showtime Network

And who is the force of politics behind this emergence? None other than the infamous Imelda Marcos, who is not only still alive, but is thriving as her son moves up the ladder of power in the Philippines. Imelda became famous with her high-flying lifestyle – including the media obsession with her shoe collection – while the citizens of the Philippines were under her husband Ferdinand’s dictatorship from 1965 until 1986. During the final year of his reign, the corruption was so blatant that the Marcos family was exiled during a People Power Revolution. “The Kingmaker” goes over all this history, plus the incredulous re-emergence of the Marcos … not only are they back in the country, but they could possibly accede to the highest levels of power once again.

Filmmaker Lauren Greenfield is back herself, after making a notable splash last year with “Generation Wealth,” a treatise on American excess that received multiple film festival acclaim. “The Kingmaker” – her seventh documentary – is a gut punch, another lesson in “those who do not remember history are condemned to repeat it.” She was interviewed by HollywoodChicago.com during her appearance at the 55th Chicago International Film Festival along with Andy Bautista (one of the information framers in the film), who is the former head of the Presidential Commission on Good Government (PCGG) in the Philippines.

Director Lauren Greenfield and Andy Bautista of ‘The Kingmaker’
Photo credit: File Photos

In PART ONE of a Podtalk wtih Patrick McDonald of HollywoodChicago.com, director Lauren Greenfield and doc subject Andy Bautista provide the inside scoop on the legacy of Imelda and the Marcos.

In PART TWO Bautista talks about his facilitation of the successful 2016 elections in the Philippines and Greenfield compares “Generation Wealth” to Imelda Marcos.

[21]	By PATRICK McDONALD [22] Editor and Film Writer HollywoodChicago.com pat@hollywoodchicago.com [21]