DESPOT HOUSEWIVES

Joël Soler

For the first time ever the most infamous first ladies (Imelda Marcos, Philippines; Agathe Habyarimana, Rwanda; Nexhmije Hoxha, Albania; Jewel Taylor, Liberia; Lucia Pinochet, Chile) are gathered together in this documentary saga that steps into the lives of these controversial women, examining the power, responsibility, and consequence of their roles as spouses of the world’s most notorious head of states.

The intermingled destinies of autocrats’ or bloodstained despots’ wives, divided into fi ve big families, seven episodes that combine love, glory and terror.

List of episodes – Season 1:

THE BIG SPENDERS: Main character: IMELDA MARCOS. Those big spenders attracted the hatred of their people. No doubt they hastened the downfall of their despotic husband.

THE ILLUSIONISTS: Main character: JEWEL TAYLOR. Explore the most charming, cultivated but surely the most ambitious Despot Housewives.

CROWNLESS QUEENS: Main character. LUCIA PINOCHET. Never a power-wielding wife, but rather a spouse in the service of power. They drape themself in charity and strengthen a totalitarian monarchy.

COOKS PLUNDGED IN TERROR:  Main character: AGATHE HABYARIMANA. Secretive first ladies who were never or rarely on the public stage. Some are accused of a shadowy role.

BLOODSTAINED LADIES: Main character: NEXHMIJE HOXHA. Ideologically tied to Marxism, they defend their ideals to the very end.

Season 2:

Following the success of the first season, discover three new families of autocrats or bloodstained despots’ wives, three episodes that combine love, glory, and terror. Many films have shown dictatorial regimes all over the world, but only a few films show the role played by the despot’s spouses. They accepted for the first time to open their doors and show us their new lives. Through this original angle, one of the goals of this series is to better understand the unknown historical realities of our contemporary world.