Rafael Manuel's Sundance-winning Filipiñana opens in UK and Irish cinemas on 20 November

Filipiñana, Filipino director Rafael Manuel's Sundance-winning debut feature about a teenage tee-girl at an elite Manila golf club, is set for release in UK and Irish cinemas on 20 November through BFI Distribution.

Filipiñana, the debut feature from Filipino writer and director Rafael Manuel, will be released in cinemas in the UK and Ireland on 20 November by BFI Distribution, the BFI announced.

Tinig UK reported that the film's UK premiere was set for 17 October at the 2026 BFI London Film Festival. According to the BFI, Filipiñana premiered in competition at the 2026 Sundance Film Festival, where it won the World Cinema Dramatic Special Jury Award for Creative Vision, and had its European premiere in the Perspectives section of the 76th Berlin International Film Festival.

The story

The film follows Isabel (Jorrybell Agoto), a 17-year-old from the rural north of the Philippines who works as a tee-girl at an elite country club outside Manila, lining up golf balls for powerful men. The cast also includes Carmen Castellanos, Teroy Guzman, Carlitos Siguion-Reyna, Isabel Sicat and Nour Houshmand.

Reviewing the film for Tinig UK, the publication called it "an astute visual thesis on the imperious proclivities of post-colonial Philippines", comparing cinematographer Xenia Patricia's pastel-hued, dollhouse framing to Wes Anderson. The review also noted that the film's slow pacing demands patience from viewers.

From short film to feature

Manuel wrote the screenplay while at the London Film School, originally as a feature, but first made it as a short. That short premiered at the 2020 Berlin International Film Festival, winning the Silver Bear for Best Short Film. Chinese filmmaker Jia Zhangke came on board as one of the feature's executive producers.

The film was developed and co-financed by Film4 and is a co-production between the Philippines, Singapore, the UK, France and the Netherlands.

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