Filipiñana wins top prize at Valencia's Cinema Jove festival

Rafael Manuel’s social satire ‘Filipiñana’ was awarded the Premio Luna de Valencia for Best Feature Film at the Cinema Jove festival in Valencia on 27 June. The jury praised it as “a bold, visually unforgettable work” that uses striking imagery and black‑humor to critique class inequality and colonial legacies set in a Philippine golf club. The Youth Jury also selected the film, citing its impactful visuals and anticolonial symbolism.

Other awards at the festival included Best Direction for Afghan filmmaker Shahrbanoo Sadat’s ‘No Good Men’, which also received the Audience Award, and Best Short Film for Júlia Coldwell’s ‘Ningú borda’. Technical prizes went to Tang Ka Hei for Best Cinematography (‘I Heard That They Are Not Going to See Each Other Anymore’) and to Ryan Billia and Jon Natchez for Best Sound‑Design and Music (‘Żejtune’).