“A masterwork... with FILIPIÑANA, Manuel opens new vistas in the future of cinema.” – Richard Brody, The New Yorker
“A rich, densely cinematic film, it is a stunning assured debut from young Filipino filmmaker Rafael Manuel... A film that should be seen in cinemas.” – C.J. Prince, The Film Stage
"Darkly comic, visually inventive...cinematically builds into a scathing account of inequality, showing how women like Isabel are condemned to work in a place whose atmosphere is closer to that of a colonial plantation than a cushy country club." – Jordan Mintzer, The Hollywood Reporter
Opens September 4 | Amid stifling heat and pervasive drought, Isabel (Jorrybell Agoto), a 17-year-old Ilokana from the rural north, works at a posh country club outside Manila. New to the job, she wanders the immaculate grounds sampling its luxuries as members engage in a complex dance with the club’s doting and subservient staff. But something is rotting beneath the pristine fairways of the elite resort, as Isabel discovers when she tries to return a mislaid golf club to its patriarchal director, Dr. Palanca (Teroy Guzman). Displaying an extraordinary command of his surreal and unnerving visual language, first-time filmmaker Rafael 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.
Awards & Nominations
2026 Sundance Film Festival - Winner, Special Jury Award
2026 Berlin International Film Festival - Official Selection
The Film Center is ADA accessible. This presentation will be projected without open captions. The theater is hearing-loop equipped. For accessibility requests, please email filmcenter@saic.edu