Lee Jutton

The New York Film Festival is unusual among its peers in that it does not involve a competition or the distribution of awards. Instead, it presents a wide array of films from around the world (this year, 119 films from 46 countries and regions), from both established filmmakers and up-and-coming talents, which organizers simply think deserve to be seen. Some of these have already played and won awards at other festivals, but others are being highlighted for the first time here in New York.

Even if you don’t know the name Twiggy, you probably know the face it’s associated with: the short, sleek blonde haircut, the full lips that form a perfect pout but also a radiant smile, and the almost impossibly round eyes, framed with layer upon layer of thick false eyelashes and black mascara. It was dubbed “The Face of ‘66” by Deirdre McSharry of the Daily Express, but sixty years later, it’s still iconic.

The feature debut from writer-director Rafael Manuel and an expansion of his 2020 short film of the same name, Filipiñana is a dispatch from ground zero of the class war: the luxurious country clubs of the Philippines and beyond. The film, which won the Special Jury Award for Creative Vision at this year’s Sundance Film Festival, peers beneath the pristine facades of these hierarchical spaces and provides a glimpse of the ugliness required to maintain their existence.