Manila’s Finest

Wednesday, July 22, 2026 Thursday, July 22 at 7:30: Q&A with director Raymond Red and star Piolo Pascual after the screening International Premiere, Southeast Asian Frontiers Raymond Red, the first Filipino filmmaker to win the Short Film Palme d’Or at Cannes for Anino, drags you back to Manila before martial law: a city with streetlights worth shooting under and cops who still think they are the good guys. Piolo Pascual is Homer Magtibay, a chain-smoking beat lieutenant working brothels, street corners, and precinct shadows, too compromised to be clean and too convinced of himself to stop. Enrique Gil rides shotgun. Then the student rallies gather force, a teenager turns up dead, and the men who call themselves Manila’s Finest get pulled into the machinery of a police state. Screening as part of New York Asian Film Festival 2026 IFC Center does not generally provide advisories about subject matter or potentially triggering content in films, as sensitivities vary from person to person. In addition to the synopses, trailers and other links on our website, further information about content and age-appropriateness for specific films can be found on Common Sense Media, IMDb and DoesTheDogDie.com as well as through general internet searches.