September 16, 2026 - Another Filipino film is headed to the Oscars and Vancouver audiences will have a chance to see it at this year’s Vancouver International Film Festival (VIFF).
Rafael Manuel’s debut feature film Filipiñana takes place at an exclusive golf course where 17-year-old Isabel deals with class disparities, power, privilege and corruption among a clientele of rich Chinese tourists and influential businessmen. The dark comedy was selected by the Film Academy of the Philippines as the country’s official submission for the Best International Feature Film category at next year's 99th Academy Awards.
The film stars Jorrybell Agoto as Isabel supported by actors Carmen Castellanos, Teroy Guzman, Carlos Siguion-Reyna, Isabel Sicat, Agot Isidro and others.
In a statement released by the FAP, the selection committee “considered the integrity of the film, the producers’ commitment and capacity to fulfill the requirements of the Oscars campaign, and the film’s ability to embody the pride of Philippine cinema.
”The committee also acknowledged Filipiñana’s “strong visual style but more importantly its incisive examination of class, power, labor, and social realities, as well as its growing international profile.”
The New Yorker film critic Richard Brody calls Filipiñana a “masterwork. ”He writes, “A great film can be recognized from its first shot, and that’s how it is with Filipiñana, which I knew absolutely nothing about in advance and which grabbed me from the very beginning, announcing itself as a masterwork.”
In an interview with Screen Slate, Filipiñana director Rafael Manuel explained his choice of a golf course as violence as both structural and invisible.
“Unlike murder and rape, which are easy to spot and obvious to resist, the invisible, structural violence of a golf course is a little more dangerous to my mind, because it has the power to lure and seduce you into inaction and complicity.”
The film premiered at the Sundance Film Festival early this year and won the World Cinema Dramatic Special Jury Award for Creative Vision. It had its European premiere at the Berlin International Film Festival in February and its Philippine premiere at the Cinemalaya Philippine Independent Film Festival in August. In late August, Filipiñana had its Canadian premiere at the Toronto International Film Festival’s Lightbox. At the San Francisco Film Festival in May, Manuel won the New Directors Award.
Filipinana will have screenings at the VIFF from September 19 to 27 at various locations in Vancouver. For tickets, go to https://viff.org/whats-on/filipinana/#book.
About the Author
Rachel Ramos-Reid started writing for magazines and newspapers when she was still a junior at the University of the Philippines’ Communication degree program majoring in Journalism. She continued to write in a public relations/corporate communications capacity in various private and government offices until moving out of the country in 1997 to work as Programme Officer for the arts and culture branch of the Southeast Asian Ministers of Education Organization (SEAMEO-SPAFA) in Bangkok, Thailand. At the end of her term, Rachel found herself immigrating to Canada in the year 2000 and again searching for new beginnings.
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