About
Rafael Manuel is a Filipino filmmaker, currently based in London. His foundations are in philosophy and visual communications, which he studied at the Ateneo de Manila University. Before moving into film, Rafael was a creative director for Saatchi & Saatchi and TBWA in the Philippines.
At London Film School, Rafael wrote and directed several short films including Sadie Makes a Baby (short, 16mm), and Dogeater (short, 35mm), which have been screened at numerous film festivals around Europe and Asia. His latest short film, Filipiñana, won the Silver Bear Jury Prize at the 70th Berlinale International Film Festival, the Loup Argenté for Best International Short Film at the 49th Festival de Nouveau Cinema, and both the Grand Prix & Best British Short Film at Encounters 2020. He is currently developing his debut feature project at the Cannes Cinéfondation La Residence.
Along with Naomi Pacifique, Rafael is the co-founder of Idle Eyes Productions - a London-based artist collective in the audio-visual field.
Rafael Manuel
Graduation film
Filipiñana
LFS Filmography
Caravan
Bara Din
Filipiñana
WE ALL JUST WANT TO BE MAD
Me, My Germs and James
Postal
A Sensational Story
Zero
Dogeater
Interloper
The Death of Don Quixote
Lit for Display
Beach Scene
Visiting Charlie
Family
Sadie Makes a Baby
Armchair
After Night
The Setup
Forgotten Wings
Two Little Girls
A Jolly Good Fellow
Batul
Where the Witches Live
Mute
In his work, Rafael is informed by what Deleuze would call naturalism; the exploration of a non-linguistic language that is not opposed to realism, but on the contrary, accentuates its features by extending their idiosyncrasies. Through this scope, Rafael is interested in découpage and detailing the various nuances and manifestations of objective violence - a violence which is devoid of any clear victim or obvious perpetrator, a more banal and invisible type of violence that has become normalised and gentrified.