Rafael Manuel’s new indie feature “Filipiñana,” which opens Friday in New York, is set against a backdrop of oppressive heat and drought. The narrative follows Isabel, a 17-year-old from the provinces of the Philippines, who gets a job at a prestigious golf resort. Manuel felt the golf course was the perfect setting for the film to explore societal inequities in the country.
With the very first courses established on American military bases, the local elite eventually took over, making the golf course a center of power. In his framing, the country club members are presented high in the frame to show the hierarchy structure, and the servants are presented low in the frame — an early shot shows Isabel sitting on the grass as she places a ball on the tee for a club member. Manuel says, “That’s what attracted me to the golf course.” He adds, “When you think about it, it’s a good metaphor for the country in that it’s very large and situated on a very fertile plot of land that’s toiled on and worked on by so many people, but ultimately enjoyed and profited from by only a select few.” That, Manuel says, illustrates the class divide that has been so ingrained in the Philippines.
Manuel spoke with Variety about how the film relates to the colonial past of the country, and the metaphorical symbolism of the golf course. He also talks about reflecting that through Isabel’s gaze and why she represents an awakening. The first image you see of Isabel is of her opening her eyes, and the last image you see of Clara is of her closing her eyes.
For me, that’s very much representative of their narrative arcs. Isabel’s journey is one of awakening and remembering the past, seeing it and hearing it. Whereas Clara’s journey is one into slumber, inaction, passivity, and perpetuating the system.
Clara is a tragic character. Isabel, on the other hand, is a heroic character because I feel like Isabel moves towards action, and Clara moves towards inaction.” Clara is a non-actor, but Isabel was in the short. It was only her second time acting, and she was a very inexperienced actor.
My directing style is to try to get out of the way as much as possible, so I spent a lot of time building the world of the character and of the film. When it comes to being on set, I try to direct them as little as possible because I trust all the work that we both did in pre-production. Freedom is such an important part of acting because every single decision and gesture that they make, they have to freely choose it.
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