25th New York Asian Film Festival

July 10-26, 2026

Photo: © Kino Lorber

New York Premiere

Filipiñana

Winner of Sundance’s Special Jury Award for Creative Vision, Rafael Manuel’s feature debut expands his Silver Bear-winning 2020 short into a work of immaculate control and sunlit menace. Isabel, seventeen and newly hired, works as a tee girl at an exclusive country club outside Manila, placing balls for the powerful men who cross the verdant course as if the land had always belonged to them. Around her, sprinklers hiss, golf carts glide, staff wait with practiced patience. All the while, the rules of the club seem to echo a larger national order. Manuel turns golf and perfect lawns into a savage satire of capitalism, building suspense from tiny humiliations, absurd rituals, and gorgeous, poisonous details. What begins as a droll portrait of service and privilege slowly bares very sharp teeth.

Director: Rafael Manuel
Producers: Jeremy Chua, Rafael Manuel, Alex Polunin, Bianca Balbuena, Bradley Liew, Nadia Turincev, Omar El Kadi
Executive Producer: Jia Zhangke
Screenwriter: Rafael Manuel
Cast: Jorrybell Agoto, Carmen Castellanos, Teroy Guzman, Carlitos Siguion-Reyna, Isabel Sicat
Languages: Filipino with English Subtitles
2026; 100 min.; DCP
Countries: Singapore, United Kingdom, Philippines, France, Netherlands

SCHEDULE:

Thursday July 16, 7:00pm
IFC Center

Saturday July 18, 12:00pm
Film at Lincoln Center