Character-Driven: Ramona Diaz on Imelda Marcos

TFI Documentary Fund (deadline October 11th) is for exceptional, character-driven feature docs that aim to take audiences into someone else’s world. Over the next few weeks, we're going to be highlighting some fabulous films we feel exemplify what we're looking for with this grant, and hearing from the filmmakers behind them. First up:  (deadline October 11th) is for exceptional, character-driven feature docs that aim to take audiences into someone else’s world. Over the next few weeks, we're going to be highlighting some fabulous films we feel exemplify what we're looking for with this grant, and hearing from the filmmakers behind them. First up: Ramona Diaz on her 2003 portrait of the former Philippine first lady and infamous shoe collector Imelda.

How did you first find the main character of your film?

I met Imelda Marcos when I interviewed her for Spirits Rising, my thesis film for the Stanford Doc Program. The film was about the women who participated in the overthrow of President Marcos during the People Power Revolution in the Philippines in 1986. She agreed to a short interview (which ended up being a long interview) to present her side of history.

What made you believe Imelda would be a compelling focus for a film?

Imelda Marcos is larger than life, so it was pretty much a no brainer. And I knew there was so much archival footage of her because, as in most dictatorships, they like to record their every move.

When I requested an interview with her the first time, I was granted permission on the proviso that, given her health (she had just come out of hospital), I could not ask her about the revolution and I only had 15 minutes with her. Given that my film WAS about the revolution, it seemed like a problem. But I thought, 'Heck, fifteen minutes with Imelda Marcos? I'll take it, see where it goes." It ended up that we interviewed her, or at least were in her apartment, for eight hours! She did not stop talking... about the revolution. And a lot of other things of course. I was shooting on 16mm film then so I couldn't film it all, but THAT day, in THAT apartment, I knew I had to make a feature doc about her. She loved the camera and had a way of "performing" that was mesmerizing. And the camera loved her back.

Was there anything surprising you hadn't expected about Imelda you discovered over the course of shooting?

I had envisioned Imelda to be a vérité film, just following Imelda Marcos around. After the first week of production, I realized, much to my dismay, that Imelda was always conscious of the camera. This surprised me, given that she had a camera crew follow her throughout her long years as first lady. Then I came to understand that, in away, it was all performance for Mrs. Marcos, that life itself was performance. But, because of this, she was also very "directable" -- she could tell a story numerous times and hit the right beats. So mid-production, I had to re-envision the entire film and use her way of interacting with the camera to work for the film. As I mentioned,she told amazing stories. So I would have her tell her stories over and over again -- sometimes she'd get distracted -- anywhere we happened to be. I think we were pretty successful navigating Imelda's world and still making a film that, creatively, I'm proud of.

Lesson? Once you are given the keys to the kingdom and you get there and the lay of the land is not what you had thought it would be, you can still make it work for you beautifully. Just be open and see what unfolds.

Ramona Diaz