There’s a little bit of home headed to Hollywood.

First Light, starring Ruby Ruiz and Maricel Soriano, has been selected as Australia’s entry for the 2027 Oscars’ Best International Feature Film category. It also marks the first time Australia has submitted a Tagalog-language film, which is a pretty big deal for Filipino cinema. 

Shot entirely in the Philippines with an all-Filipino cast, First Light is the feature debut of Filipino-Australian writer and director James J. Robinson. The film stars Ruby Ruiz as Sister Yolanda, with Maricel Soriano, Rez Cortez, Soliman Cruz, Kidlat Tahimik, and Lui Manansala rounding out its cast of Filipino screen veterans.

For Ruiz and Soriano, First Light brings together two very different but equally significant chapters of Philippine cinema.

Ruiz has steadily made a name for herself through performances marked by range and quiet intensity, earning recognition both at home and abroad. Her performance in Verdict earned her the Best Actress award at the 2019 Harlem International Film Festival, adding to a growing body of work that has brought Filipino stories to international audiences.  

Soriano, meanwhile, needs little introduction. A fixture of Philippine showbiz for decades, she has moved effortlessly between drama, comedy, romance, and everything in between. Her career has spanned generations of Filipino cinema, making her one of the country’s most enduring and recognizable actresses. Her presence in First Light brings that history with her placing one of Philippine cinema’s icons alongside a film that is now reaching a much wider audience.

First Light brings together different generations of Filipino talent, from Ruiz and Soriano to a cast of respected Filipino actors and artists, all telling a story rooted in the Philippines. 

Australia may be the country sending the film into the Oscar race, but there’s no mistaking where First Light comes from. It was filmed entirely here, told in Tagalog, and carried by a Filipino cast.

The film still has to make it through the Academy’s shortlist and nominations before we can call it an Oscar nominee. For now, though, seeing Ruby Ruiz and Maricel Soriano at the center of Australia’s first Tagalog-language submission is already something Filipino audiences can celebrate.