Imelda Documentary Film In Sundance, to be shown in the Philippines ! Options

[poknat]

Award for Imelda documentary

(IMG:http://www.opinion.telegraph.co.uk/news/graphics/2004/06/17/wmarco17.jpg)
MANILA — Despite the well-known tales of her lavish lifestyle, excessive spending and vast collection of shoes, the former first lady of the Philippines, Imelda Marcos, remains an enigma.

For 20 years Imelda and her late dictator husband Ferdinand ruled the Philippines as if it were their own fiefdom only to be driven into exile by the very people she “loved” in February 1986.

Now a major award-winning documentary by Filipino filmmaker Ramona Diaz aims to shed some light on the woman behind the legend.

Called Imelda, the film won first prize for documentary cinematography at the recent Sundance Film Festival and has opened to favourable reviews in New York.

The film, which runs for one hour and 43 minutes, will be released in the Philippines on July 7 — five days after Imelda’s 75th birthday.

“Imelda is a wonderful character study,” Tito Velasco, general manager of Unitel, which has world wide distribution rights said.

“Everywhere she goes Imelda still has that regal air about her. Here in the Philippines she stands out in a crowd and overseas she is known for her shoes,” referring to the collection of thousands of shoes that she left at the presidential palace when she fled into exile in 1986.

“This film is Imelda’s story told in her own words. It doesn’t cast her in any particular light. “If you love the woman you will come away still loving her. If you despise her your view will not change ... it’s that sort of film.”

And what did Imelda think?

“She liked it although some of those close to her would have preferred that she said nothing at all,” Velasco said.

As for Diaz, her first meeting with Imelda was 10 years ago in Manila when she was filming Spirits Rising, a film about women in the People Power revolution that drove the Marcoses into US exile.

“Not a day went by in the seventies and early eighties one didn’t hear what the peripatetic Philippine first lady was up to,” she says in a media release.

“It seemed that life in the Philippines, or at least in the capital Manila, revolved around Ferdinand and Imelda Marcos and their children.

“When I left to study documentary film making at Stanford (University) in 1981, I hadn’t known any other president aside from Ferdinand Marcos.”

Diaz, 41, who now lives in Baltimore in the United States with her husband and daughter, described her meeting with Imelda Marcos in 1993 as “surreal”.

“Before the interview I was told that it was to last no more than 15 minutes and not to ask her about events in 1986. Five hours later we were still talking in her Manila apartment and she told me all about that night in 1986.”

Velasco said the film “is not about the shoes” — although they do get a mention as a study of the character that is Imelda.

On the shoes, Imelda says that the mass of poor people in the Philippines heeded her as a “role model and inspiration for pursuing a better lifestyle.”

The New York Times said: “As a personality study, Imelda is a devastating portrait of how power begets self delusion.”

Life magazine once described the former beauty queen as “Asia’s answer to Jackie Kennedy.”

In 1975 Cosmopolitan named her one of the 10 richest women in the world. The Marcoses are alleged to have stripped the country of anywhere between five billion to $10 billion. No one knows for sure just how much was siphoned out of the country during the 20 years of Marcos rule.

Imelda was allowed to return home after her husband died in Hawaii in 1989 and the Marcos clan has regained some of its influence, with some Marcos children getting elected to Congress and a gubernatorial position.

— AFP


Another article: (IMG:http://www.asiafinest.com/forum/style_emoticons/default/icon_rolleyes.gif)

Imelda Marcos in court move to ban documentary
By Sebastien Berger, South-East Asia Correspondent
(Filed: 17/06/2004)


Imelda Marcos, the widow of the former Filipino president famed for her gargantuan shoe collection, has asked a court to ban a documentary about her from the country's cinema screens.

"All our lives, President Ferdinand Marcos and I were so deeply committed to God, country, the truth and the Filipino people," she said in a statement. "But were portrayed by the unauthorised Imelda documentary with malice, inaccuracies and innuendoes."


Imelda Marcos
Mrs Marcos, 74, was interviewed for the film but now claims that she gave permission for it only as an educational project, rather than a commercial release.

A friend said she was too upset to appear personally at the proceedings in Manila. "Mrs Marcos was in tears," the friend said. "She wanted to go to the court herself but was very emotional. She felt betrayed."

The Marcoses fled the Philippines in 1986 after a popular revolt against the dictator's two-decade rule. They were given sanctuary in Hawaii. Mrs Marcos was later allowed to return home after her husband's death, but faces criminal and civil legal actions over accusations that the couple looted the impoverished country of billions of pounds.

The 3,000 pairs of shoes discovered in the presidential palace, after the couple's flight became a symbol of their excess.

She has never been convicted but can only leave the Philippines with the permission of the courts.

In the film, Mrs Marcos explains that the poor of the Philippines looked up to her as a "role model and inspiration for pursuing a better lifestyle".

On the subject of the court cases against her she says: "I'm very simple. I don't know why they make a problem for me."

Imelda was a recent prize winner at the Sundance film festival in America and is due for release in the Philippines in three weeks' time.

The New York Times said: "As a personality study, Imelda is a devastating portrait of how power begets self-delusion."

A spokesman for the film's distributors Unitel said they were still deciding how to respond to the legal action.

[flipcombatmedic]

imelda use to be a model or beauty queen right?

[halohalo]

imelda use to be a model or beauty queen right?

yeah she was. She was beautiful when she was younger, and I think she came from the Leyte region. Anyways, Imelda reminds me of this famous filipina named
Rose Porteous in Aus. They're very similar in looks, mannerisms, and even the way they dress sometimes. Yeah, Rose used to be a maid b4 she married this millionare. There was this whole controversy when her husband died bcoz his daughter accused her of causing her father's death. It was all over the media and even though the case was dismissed Rose is now the laughing stock of the Aus media. Kinda like Imelda. (IMG:http://www.asiafinest.com/forum/style_emoticons/default/icon_rolleyes.gif) (IMG:http://www.asiafinest.com/forum/style_emoticons/default/sure.gif)

[morena]

imelda is angry at the writer of the film, she said that she was duped by the director coz she told her that the interview was for a thesis.

This post has been edited by morena: Jun 19 2004, 09:57 PM

[JMAC]

^ haha she got screwed! Anyways I would love to see this documentary, I love documentaries!

[poknat]

imelda is angry at the writer of the film, she said that she was duped by the director coz she told her that the interview was for a thesis.

(IMG:http://www.asiafinest.com/forum/style_emoticons/default/icon_wink.gif) Thesis or not?...............

Why did she not react before ? Like this film in Sundance film festival,she could resorted to legal ways before.........

[flipcombatmedic]

not to be gross but i think imelda would be hot if she was still young. waray kasi eh di ba. waray pride. hehe. jk

[poknat]

(IMG:http://www.asiafinest.com/forum/style_emoticons/default/embarassedlaugh.gif) She wanted to file suits in order to get some money........

(IMG:http://www.asiafinest.com/forum/style_emoticons/default/icon_wink.gif) Para maiba naman!

[halohalo]

not to be gross but i think imelda would be hot if she was still young. waray kasi eh di ba. waray pride. hehe. jk

lol (IMG:http://www.asiafinest.com/forum/style_emoticons/default/embarassedlaugh.gif)

[flipcombatmedic]

reallly, don't you guys think so. haha. i would go out with her. can anybody find a pic of her when she's younger.

[Ek-ek]

imelda use to be a model or beauty queen right?

(IMG:http://www.asiafinest.com/forum/style_emoticons/default/embarassedlaugh.gif) Mrs. Imelda Marcos was first runner-up in the then Miss Philippines contest in 1952.

[halohalo]

imelda use to be a model or beauty queen right?

(IMG:http://www.asiafinest.com/forum/style_emoticons/default/embarassedlaugh.gif) Mrs. Imelda Marcos was first runner-up in the then Miss Philippines contest in 1952.

she was also known as the Rose of Tacloban. been 2 her house, it's awesome. mad place, it's a mansion. and i saw a mountain carving of marcos face.

[Ek-ek]

How about the furniture are they still around or was sequestered ?

[halohalo]

How about the furniture are they still around or was sequestered ?

hmm...i hav no idea. da only time i went der i was still really young, like around 5, and dat was like back in '91?

[Ek-ek]

imelda use to be a model or beauty queen right?

yeah she was. She was beautiful when she was younger, and I think she came from the Leyte region. Anyways, Imelda reminds me of this famous filipina named
Rose Porteous in Aus. They're very similar in looks, mannerisms, and even the way they dress sometimes. Yeah, Rose used to be a maid b4 she married this millionare. There was this whole controversy when her husband died bcoz his daughter accused her of causing her father's death. It was all over the media and even though the case was dismissed Rose is now the laughing stock of the Aus media. Kinda like Imelda. (IMG:http://www.asiafinest.com/forum/style_emoticons/default/icon_rolleyes.gif) (IMG:http://www.asiafinest.com/forum/style_emoticons/default/sure.gif)

(IMG:http://www.asiafinest.com/forum/style_emoticons/default/icon_neutral.gif) Could you tell more about her story?

[flipcombatmedic]

imelda is from tacloban? really? she must have been from a rich family.

[halohalo]

imelda is from tacloban? really? she must have been from a rich family.

well she had a mansion, i dunno if dat was her family home, but if it was den yah she must hab been rich.

[JMAC]

not to be gross but i think imelda would be hot if she was still young. waray kasi eh di ba. waray pride. hehe. jk

so you`d still HIT it though?

[Ek-ek]

May asim pa ! Just like the 64 year old psychic Madam Auring in love with a 22 year old !

[redhotchili]

the showing of this film here in the phils was stopped by the court. imelda marcos said that this docu is malicious and that her image is being destroyed by it. as iiiiif. (IMG:http://www.asiafinest.com/forum/style_emoticons/default/shrug.gif)