Filipiñana

In this Sundance-lauded debut, a young Filipina learns that subjugation and silence are par for the course at the golf club where she finds employment.

Having left rural Ilocos for Manila’s greener pastures, 17-year-old Isabel ends up on a different kind of green: working as a ‘tee girl’ for a country club. She quickly adopts a new routine teeing up balls for wealthy golfers, joining the staff to eat morsels of rice and fish while the clientele feast, and gradually growing infatuated with the wealthy doctor who runs the club. But as she discovers more about her patron and the institution to which he owes his fortune, Isabel finds herself drawn into a web of exploitation, displacement and unseen, sanitised violence.

Executive-produced by Jia Zhang-ke and receiving a Special Jury Award at Sundance, Rafael Manuel’s scathing and contemplative feature debut escalates with menace despite its languid, sun-drenched setting, whose sheen conceals the gendered dynamics of power and how the extremely rich prey on the aspirational poor. Supported by Filipino screen mavens Angeli Bayani (Ilo Ilo, MIFF 2013) and Ruby Ruiz (First Light, MIFF 2025), Jorrybell Agoto lends an unsettled defiance to her portrayal of Isabel, propelling a sly satire of oppression entrenched through polished appearances.

Content: Melbourne International Film Festival