Abstract:

Ramona Diaz's IMELDA explores the life and psychology of the First Lady who reigned besides president-turned-dictator Ferdinand Marcos from 1965-86, a pivotal period in national history that saw poverty, crime, and rising insurgency spread throughout the Philippines. Through a seamless blend of archival footage, home movies, state-sponsored propaganda and personal testimonies, IMELDA follows its subject from her youth as a provincial orphan to her ascension into power to her iconic plunge into personal excess that accompanied her fall from grace.