Rafael Manuel's 'Filipiñana' Opens in New York: A Golf Course as a Map of Philippine Inequality

Rafael Manuel's debut feature Filipiñana opens August 28, 2026, at Film Forum in New York City, bringing to screens a Sundance and Berlin festival selection that turns a prestigious Philippine golf resort into a stage for class, colonialism, and power (Variety; Sundance).

The film follows Isabel, a 17-year-old from the Philippine provinces who takes a job at a golf and country club where the wealthy play and the poor serve. Manuel, who is Filipino-Singaporean and based in Amsterdam, London and Manila, wrote and directed the project, with executive production by Chinese film-maker Jia Zhangke (Berlinale; Film Forum).

At Sundance in January, Filipiñana won the World Cinema Dramatic Special Jury Award for Creative Vision (Sundance). The film also screened at the Berlin International Film Festival. Kino Lorber acquired North American distribution rights in February and will follow the theatrical run with digital, educational and home video releases (Variety; Kino Lorber).

Manuel chose the golf course deliberately. The first courses in the Philippines were built on American military bases, and the local elite eventually claimed them, making the club a centre of power. Manuel has called the golf course a metaphor for the country itself: a large, fertile plot of land worked by many but enjoyed and profited from by a select few (Variety).

The visual language reinforces that hierarchy. Country club members sit high in the frame; servants crouch low. Manuel frames Filipiñana as a film about the colonial past of the Philippines, reflected through Isabel's gaze (Variety). The story sets that awakening against a backdrop of oppressive heat and drought.

Two young women anchor the narrative. Isabel, played by Jorrybell Agoto in only her second acting role after appearing in Manuel's earlier short film, journeys toward remembering the past. Clara, played by Carmen Castellanos — a non-actor cast for the part — drifts into passivity, inaction, and the perpetuation of the system she lives inside (Variety).

Behind the camera, cinematographer Xenia Patricia and production designer Tatjana Honegge shape the look of the resort. Sound designer Vincent Villa, a French artist based in Cambodia, handled the film's soundscape (Variety).

What makes the film stand out is how directly Manuel ties a single location to an entire national history. A golf course is an unlikely place to stage a reckoning with colonialism. Manuel builds the case patiently — through framing, through casting, through the slow contrast between one girl waking up and another going to sleep.

Filipiñana is distributed by Magnify Films internationally. The New York run at Film Forum begins August 28, 2026, ahead of a wider theatrical release through Kino Lorber later in the year (Film Forum; Kino Lorber).