As Manila’s Finest takes home three honors at the 2026 Manila International Film Festival, Ashtine Olviga’s Best Actress win puts a spotlight on the performance that helped carry the film’s weight.

Manila’s Finest has found another audience beyond Philippine screens, and this time, its recognition comes with a major acting win for Ashtine Olviga as she bags the Best Actress at the 2026 Manila International Film Festival for her performance in Manila’s Finest, which also won Best Picture (Narrative) and Best Cinematography.  The three awards made Raymond Red’s film one of the festival’s biggest winners.

The recognition feels particularly fitting for a film that asks its performers to sit with the weight of its story. In ZEEN’s review of Manila’s Finest during their Metro Manila Film. Festival run in 2025, we noted how the film lets the seething realities surrounding its characters settle rather than rushing past them. 

Its Manila is lived-in and heavy, shaped by the political tensions and personal consequences that surround its story. Playing the role of Agnes Magtibay, a student activist during the 1970s, Ashtine becomes part of its emotional texture, grounding the story through a character whose experiences make its larger historical backdrop feel personal.

Manila’s Finest’s MIFF further gives international recognition to the work of a Filipino ensemble and creative team telling a distinctly Filipino story.

Olviga’s win also marks another step in an increasingly notable chapter of her career. After gaining wider attention through her work in television and film, the actress is now receiving recognition for a performance that places her within a more demanding, socially grounded piece of Filipino cinema.

Olviga shares MIFF’s acting spotlight with Jericho Rosales, who won Best Actor for Quezon. The veteran actor’s recognition further strengthened the festival’s showing for Filipino performers, but Manila’s Finest remained one of the evening’s biggest standouts.