Overview
- The Film Academy of the Philippines’ National Collection Committee selected Filipiñana from a shortlist of eight films as the country’s official submission to the Best International Feature category.
- Filipiñana is Rafael Manuel’s feature debut and follows a 17-year-old who takes a job at an elite Manila golf club, a setting the director uses to examine class, land power and exploitation.
- The film premiered at Sundance where it won the World Cinema Dramatic Special Jury Award for Creative Vision and later closed the Cinemalaya festival before opening in Philippine and U.S. theaters.
- Kino Lorber, which is distributing the film in North America, has publicly committed resources to run an awards campaign and said it will work with the producers to build awards visibility.
- The submission faces strong international competition and carries extra weight for the Philippines because no Philippine film has yet reached the Academy’s international-feature shortlist or secured a nomination.