Filipino film ‘Filipiñana’ wins 3 awards at  2023 Asian Project Market in Korea

The Filipino film “Filipiñana” by director Rafael Manuel won three awards at the 2023 Asian Project Market (APM) being held as part of the Busan International Film Festival (BIFF) in Busan, South Korea. 

The APM announced the winners on Oct. 10 during the awards ceremony at Paradise Hotel Busan Grand Ballroom. 

 “Filipiñana” film (Instagram)

A total of 30 projects from 13 countries including the Philippines were selected. 

The APM “is a first launched co-production platform in Asia that offers emerging filmmakers the opportunity to meet international leading film professionals.” 

A total of 826 business meetings were conducted from Oct 7 to Oct 10 with 196 attendees from 140 companies participating. 

“Filipiñana,” a Philippines, Singapore and UK production, won the TAICCA Award, ArteKino International Award, and Kongchak Studio Award.

According to the APM website, “Filipiñana” tells the story of new “tee girl” Isabel who “feels strangely drawn to Dr. Palanca, the president of the country club where she works. But as Isabel starts to piece together a more violent picture of what lies behind the country club’s pristine facade, she comes to realize that what began as an innocent infatuation with Dr. Palanca is rooted in a more sinister, shared history.”

About the film, Manuel said, “To my mind, the golf course is a perfect metaphor for Philippine society; a very large and fertile area of land, toiled and worked upon by so many, but ultimately enjoyed by only a privileged few.” 

“‘Filipiñana’ is a film about violence. But not the kind of violence with easily identifiable victims and perpetrators, such as murder or rape. Rather, I’m interested in exploring an audio-visual language capable of depicting less visible manifestations of violence. When one can see and hear this invisible kind of violence, one comes to realize that the sound of a golf club striking a golf ball sounds uncannily like a gun-shot,” he added, according to APM. 

It stars Jorrybell Agoto as Isabel, Micah Gomez, Sunshine Teodoro and Elle Velasco. 

The TAICCA Award is sponsored by the Taiwan Creative Content Agency (TAICCA), which commits $10,000 for the film project. 

The ArteKino International Award gives 9,000 Euros to the winning film project while the Kongchak Studio Award confers “an in-kind prize worth 25,000USD in sound post-production services and facilities. Kongchak Studio will also cover travel and accommodation to Cambodia for the director (only 1 person) of the winning project to undertake the project’s sound post-production.”

Here are the winners of the 2023 Asian Project Market (APM):