Filipiñana
Singapore Premiere
Rafael Manuel Singapore, UK, Philippines, France, Netherlands 2026 99 min PG13 (Some Coarse Language and Sexual References)
In this stylish and darkly funny feature debut, a tee girl’s mission to return a golf club to the country club president leads her to uncover sinister secrets about her workplace, exposing elite society’s dark underbelly.
Isabel is a newly hired tee girl at a posh resort on Manila’s outskirts. In between her duties on the driving range, the teenager roams the golf course reminiscent of her lush Ilocano homeland. Tasked to return a golf club to the country club’s charismatic president, Isabel wanders deeper into its insulated interior spaces, witnessing how labour and servitude are performed in careful choreography and deference to Chinese tourists and wealthy industrialists.
Her curiosity and growing boldness lead her to discover violent secrets lurking just behind the lavish facade. Rafael Manuel’s sun-drenched, stylish debut feature unfurls at a languid pace that belies its incisive exposé of elite society’s dark underbelly.
Synopsis Writer: Aditi Shivaramakrishnan
1 Nov, Sun 2:00PM / 99 min
National Museum Singapore, Gallery Theatre
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Filipiñana
Rafael Manuel
Singapore, UK, Philippines, France, Netherlands
2026
Filipino, English, Ilokano
English
99 min
PG13 (Some Coarse Language and Sexual References)
Singapore Premiere
Rafael Manuel
Rafael Manuel is a Filipino filmmaker currently based in between Amsterdam, London and Manila. His short film, Filipiñana (2020) won the Silver Bear Jury Prize at the Berlinale. The feature Filipiñana won the World Cinema Dramatic Special Jury Award for Creative Vision at Sundance. He is the current film protegé at the Rolex Mentor and Protegé Arts Initiative, chosen and mentored by Jia Zhang-ke.
Jorrybell Agoto,
Teroy Guzman,
Carmen Castellanos
Jeremy Chua,
Alex Polunin,
Bradley Liew,
Bianca Balbuena,
Nadia Turincev,
Omar El Kadi,
Rafael Manuel