Filipiñana + Q&A

Amid the stifling heat and the drought raging across the country, the 17-years old Isabel works at a luxury golf club in the capital, where she lines up golf balls for important people to hit toward the verdant horizon. As a new employee, she wanders the club's immaculate grounds, getting a taste of luxury, while members—each richer than the next—engage in a complex dance with the club's devoted and humble staff. But something is rotten beneath the immaculate surface of this elite resort. The deeper Isabel ventures into the club's most exclusive corners, the more she is confronted with the violence that permeates her homeland, the Philippines, as well as her own past.

Rafael Manuel's debut feature film won the Special Jury Prize for Creative Vision at the Sundance Film Festival. The film also offers a critique of national identity, as its title suggests: Filipiniana is an umbrella term referring to objects and intellectual works related to the history and culture of the Philippines.

Sundance International Film Festival – Special Jury Award for Creative Vision
Berlin International Film Festival
Melbourne International Film Festival
BFI London Film Festival
Official Philippine submission for the 99th Academy Awards, 2027 – Best International Feature Film

Rafael Manuel is a director, writer, and editor from the Philippines. His short films have been featured in the programs of numerous prestigious international film festivals, such as the Locarno Film Festival, the Rotterdam International Film Festival, and the Berlin International Film Festival. His 2020 short film Filipiñana, which served as a study for his first feature film, won the Silver Bear at the Berlin International Film Festival. Manuel is the most recent recipient of the Rolex Arts Initiative's film scholarship, where he was mentored by Jia Zhang-ke (Still Life, Touch of Sin). Richard Brody, the legendary film critic of The New Yorker, selected Manuel's first feature film, Filipiñana, as one of the best films of 2026.

Dogeater (2019) - short
Filipiñana (2020) - short
102 Nara (2024) - short

Original title: Filipiñana
Director: Rafael Manuel
Cast: Jorrybell Agoto, Carmen Castellanos, Teroy Guzman, Carlos Siguion-Reyna, Isabel Sicat, Nour Hooshmand, Ruby Ruiz, Pipay Kipay, Agot Isidro, Angeli Bayani, Shamaine Buencamino
Cinematography: Xenia Patricia
Screenwriter: Rafael Manuel
Producer: Jeremy Chua, Alex Polunin, Bianca Balbuena, Bradley Liew, Nadia Turincev, Omar El Kadi, Rafael Manuel
Editor: Rafael Manuel
Music: Vincent Villa
Hungarian Distributor: -
Colour: colour
Run Time: 100 mins