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World Cinema Dramatic Competition

Filipiñana

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Singapore/United Kingdom/Philippines/France/Netherlands2026100 minFilipino, English, Ilokano
Filipiñana

Tee girl Isabel feels strangely drawn to Dr. Palanca, the president of the country club where she works. However, after piecing together a violent picture of what lies beneath the club’s pristine surface, she realizes that what began as an innocent infatuation is actually rooted in a sinister shared history.

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Tee girl Isabel feels strangely drawn to Dr. Palanca, the president of the country club where she works. However, after piecing together a violent picture of what lies beneath the club’s pristine surface, she realizes that what began as an innocent infatuation is actually rooted in a sinister shared history.

Displaying an extraordinary command of his surreal and unnerving visual language, first-time filmmaker Rafael Manuel adapts his award-winning 2020 short film of the same name to chilling effect. Manuel plumbs the depths of Filipino identity and national consciousness to uncover ominous fragments and cracks that defy picture-perfect unity. Through a stylized, colorful approach lensed with care and precision by cinematographer Xenia Patricia, Manuel takes us into a world where violence and control are exerted with the subtle flick of a wrist or tip of a hat. Painting a scathing portrait of class disparities and post-colonial power structures in ways that are both quiet and unsettling, Filipiñana announces the arrival of an accomplished writer-director who unflinchingly confronts his country’s past, present, and future. — AS

Available in person. Also available online for the public (January 29–February 1) and credentialed press and industry (January 28–February 1).

World Cinema Dramatic CompetitionAll FeaturesFirst-Time FeaturesInternationalDramaFictionEnglish SDH SubtitlesEnglish SubtitlesOpen CaptionU.S. Only- less

Credits

  • Director(s)

    Rafael Manuel

  • Screenwriter

    Rafael Manuel

  • Producer

    Jeremy Chua

    Alex Polunin

    Bianca Balbuena

    Bradley Liew

    Nadia Turincev

    Omar El Kadi

    Rafael Manuel

  • Co-Producers

    Sam Chua Weishi

  • Executive Producers

    Farhana Bhula

    Anthony C. Isais

    Grace Mariel M. Isais

    Maria Sophia Atayde-Marudo

    Jossette C. Atayde

    Sebastian Raeuber

    Francine Raeuber

    Jia Zhang-Ke

  • Cinematographer

    Xenia Patricia

  • Production Design

    Tatjana Fanny Honegger

  • Costume Designer

    Carla Villanueva

    Tatjana Fanny Honegger

  • Sound

    Vincent Villa

  • Editor

    Rafael Manuel

  • Post-Production Supervisor

    Eugene Seah

  • Color Grading

    Vlad Barin

  • Principal Cast

    Jorrybell Agoto

    Carmen Castellanos

    Teroy Guzman

    Carlitos Siguion-Reyna

    Isabel Sicat

    Nour Houshmand

Meet the Artist

Panelist Name

Rafael Manuel

  • Instagram

Based in between London, Amsterdam, and Manila. Rafael Manuel’s short films have won a Silver Bear at the Berlinale, have screened at Locarno and Rotterdam, and are exhibited by ARTE and the Criterion Collection. He was the last Film Protégé at the Rolex Perpetual Arts Initiative. Filipiñana is Manuel’s debut feature film.

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