Australia has picked its Oscar horse, and it’s carrying a Filipino passport. “First Light,” the feature debut of Filipino-Australian filmmaker James J. Robinson, has been selected as Australia’s official submission for Best International Feature Film at the 2027 Academy Awards — the category through which countries submit one non-English-language film each year for Oscar consideration. It’s the first Filipino-Australian co-production ever made, and the first Tagalog-language film Australia has submitted in the category’s history. Leading it is Ruby Ruiz, a veteran Filipino actress who has spent over four decades working the margins of Philippine cinema in character and supporting roles before this became, in her own words on Instagram, her first international lead. The story Shot largely in Baras, Rizal, with additional filming in Metro Manila, “First Light” follows Sister Yolanda, a nun whose quiet devotion unravels after a construction worker under her care dies under suspicious circumstances. As she pushes for answers, she runs into resistance from both the Church and the state — institutions that would rather the story stay buried. Australia’s selection …