Rafael Manuel spent seven or eight years developing “ Filipinana ,” his debut feature about a teenage girl working at an elite Manila country club — years before HBO’s “The White Lotus” turned the luxury resort satire into prestige television gold. “I get the comparisons, of course, because ‘White Lotus’ is one of the biggest series ever but I wouldn’t say that it’s a direct influence at all,” Manuel tells Variety ahead of the film’s European premiere at the Berlinale. “I think, formally, they’

Tag-uri: HBO