Valentino: The Last Emperor, directed by Matt Tyrnauer, is a feature-length movie that takes the viewer inside the singular world of one of Italy’s most famous designers, Valentino Garavani. The film documents the colorful and dramatic closing act of Valentino’s celebrated career, tells the story of his extraordinary life, and explores the larger themes affecting the fashion business today. In production from June 2005 to July 2007, the filmmakers shot over 250 hours of footage with exclusive, unprecedented access to Valentino and his entourage.

To know Valentino is also to know Giancarlo Giammetti, widely considered to be one of the most brilliant businessmen of his generation in Italy, and certainly one of the great business icons in the history of fashion. He and Valentino began as boyfriends in the early 1960s, and ended up as life business partners who, with great ambition and talent, have built a billion-dollar fashion business from the ground up. 

Anchoring the film’s narrative is the arc of Valentino’s last two years at the helm of the fashion house he created. Still at the top of his game after 45 years, the designer began with only a dream. A little boy from a middle-class family growing up in a small town outside of Milan, early on Valentino recognized his calling: to dress the stars he saw in the Hollywood movies his sister brought him to see at the local cinema. His talent for fashion presented itself at an early age—as did his iron will. As a schoolboy, he demanded that his mother take him to the local weavers so that he could get his sweaters custom-made to his own designs. 

Cebu and Davao-based glossy magazine, Zee Lifestyle, will be presenting this critically-acclaimed documentary, Valentino The Last Emperor in an exclusive one-time showing in Manila, Davao and Cebu.  The By-Invitation Only screening is presented together with Samsung on August 20 in Manila, August 23 in Davao and August 27 in Cebu.  Subscribers and special guests will be getting their red-carpet invitation in the mail.  For more information, log on to www.zeelifestylecebu.com.