{"id":101416,"date":"2025-10-28T00:30:07","date_gmt":"2025-10-28T00:30:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/101416\/"},"modified":"2025-10-28T00:30:07","modified_gmt":"2025-10-28T00:30:07","slug":"rafael-manuels-filipinana-tees-up-at-tokyo-gap-financing-market","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/101416\/","title":{"rendered":"Rafael Manuel’s ‘Filipinana’ Tees Up at Tokyo Gap-Financing Market"},"content":{"rendered":"

\n\tRafael Manuel<\/a>\u2018s debut feature \u201cFilipinana<\/a>\u201d is making its pitch at the Tokyo Gap-Financing Market<\/a> as the international co-production enters advanced post-production.<\/p>\n

\n\tThe film, which expands on Manuel\u2019s Silver Bear Jury Prize-winning short of the same name from the Berlin Film Festival, follows Isabel, a tee-girl at Manila\u2019s Alabang Golf & Country Club who spends her days teeing up golf balls mere inches from swinging clubs. When she encounters the club president, Dr. Palanca, asleep in some bushes on the course, a brief connection sets her on a journey deeper into the country club\u2019s world \u2013 and into what Manuel describes as \u201ca cosmos that reflects the inherent structural violence of the Philippines.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\t\u201cYes, the film is set on a golf course in the Philippines, but it could be set anywhere really,\u201d Manuel tells Variety. \u201cWhat I\u2019m trying to convey is that regardless of where we find ourselves in the hierarchy of any oppressive system, we all have our part to play in perpetuating it. And that when places are made beautiful, the violence that lays underneath becomes that much harder to see.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tThe project has been six years in the making, with Manuel citing patience as the biggest challenge. \u201cBut this is because we aimed to be as intentioned as possible in searching for the right partners for the project,\u201d he says, noting that Jia Zhangke came aboard as a mentor.<\/p>\n

\n\tThe film is structured as a four-country co-production between the U.K. (Film4\/Ossian), Singapore (Potocol), the Philippines (Epicmedia Productions) and France (Easy Riders), with financing combining national funds, rebates, investment and presales.<\/p>\n

\n\t\u201cWe are working on a pretty large scale for a first film,\u201d says producer Jeremy Chua. \u201cThis definitely added to the complexity of legals and spending allocations.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tShooting presented unique logistical hurdles, with different sequences filmed across multiple golf courses around Manila\u2019s peripheries due to restrictions. Production designer Tatjana Honegger \u201cformed a singular, absurdist, architectural universe\u201d from the disparate locations, Chua says.<\/p>\n

\n\tProducer Bianca Balbuena Liew notes that the production secured both development and production grants via rebate from the Film Development Council of the Philippines. She joined the project after filmmaker Lorna Tee and Chua both urged Epicmedia to come aboard.<\/p>\n

\n\t\u201cWe all believed in Rafael\u2019s vision and I guess that\u2019s why six years felt like a breeze,\u201d Balbuena Liew says.<\/p>\n

\n\tAt Tokyo, the team is seeking presale opportunities from Japanese and broader Asian distributors, potential P&A partners for an Asian release, and building programmer interest for a festival tour. \u201cWe also hope to deepen our understanding of the Japanese market,\u201d Chua says, adding that a small financing gap may need closing pending final works requirements.<\/p>\n

\n\tThe film, which still has VFX and editing to complete, is being readied with sales agent Magnify for a world premiere next year.<\/p>\n

\n\t\u201cI believe the film is going to offer audiences a new sound and image of Southeast Asia cinema, made in an ambitious scale but with a handmade touch,\u201d Chua says. \u201cThis film was designed for the big screen.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tManuel is currently developing several projects, including a colonial period piece set in the Philippines.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Rafael Manuel\u2018s debut feature \u201cFilipinana\u201d is making its pitch at the Tokyo Gap-Financing Market as the international co-production…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":101417,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8],"tags":[146,66937,85,46,66938,66939,1776],"class_list":{"0":"post-101416","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-entertainment","8":"tag-entertainment","9":"tag-filipinana","10":"tag-il","11":"tag-israel","12":"tag-rafael-manuel","13":"tag-tokyo-gap-financing-market","14":"tag-tokyo-international-film-festival"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/101416","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=101416"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/101416\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/101417"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=101416"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=101416"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=101416"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}