Filipino film 'Filipiñana' wins Sundance 2026 jury award

MANILA, Philippines, February 5 ------ Filipino movie "Filipiñana" won a special jury award at the recently concluded 2026 Sundance Film Festival. The film, directed by Rafael Manuel, made its world premiere at the largest festival in the United States for independent films by competing in the World Cinema Dramatic Competition.

Manuel's directorial feature debut was awarded the World Cinema Dramatic Special Jury Award for Creative Vision. The other special jury award in the category, for Acting Ensemble, went to Nigerian film "Lady," while Myrsini Aristidou's "Hold Onto Me" won the Audience Award.

Visar Morina's "Shame and Money" took the category's top Grand Jury Prize, as Andrius Blaževicius won a Directing Award for his film "How to Divorce During the War." A logline for "Filipiñana" teases the story of a teenage girl named Isabel who is strangely drawn to Dr. Palanca, the president of the country club where she works. "However, after piecing together a violent picture of what lies beneath the club's pristine surface, she realizes that what began as an innocent infatuation is actually rooted in a sinister shared history," the synopsis goes.

In the cast for "Filipiñana" are Jorrybell Agoto, Carmen Castellanos, Teroy Guzman, Isabel Sicat, Nour Houshmand, Ruby Ruiz, Agot Isidro, Angeli Bayani, Shamaine Buencamino, and Carlos Siguion-Reyna. The film is based on Manuel's 2020 short film of the same name — also starring Agoto — which won the Silver Bear Jury Prize at the 70th Berlinale International Film Festival and was nominated for the Best British Short Film at the British Independent Film Awards. "Filipiñana" now heads to this year's Berlinale to make its European premiere as one of the 13 films competing for Best First Feature Award in the festival's Perspectives section.

Other Filipino films screening at Berlinale this February are Ryan Machado's 2025 Cinemalaya entry "Rumaragasa" starring Elijah Canlas, Dominik Locher, and Honeylyn Joy Alipio's "Enjoy Your Stay" (a co-production of the Philippines with Switzerland and France), and the 2005 film "Ang Pagdadalaga ni Maximo Oliveros."

The latter was selected for the festival's Teddy 40, a special section to celebrate 40 years of awarding critically acclaimed queer productions.

Source: philstar.com