From the Philippines to Los Angeles: Rob Hamilton and Jenna Genio Score Two Nominations at the 2026 International Motor Film Awards
There are some people in this scene who deserve their own moment in the creator spotlight. Jenna V. Genio, her cool photography skills in that sense, is why I am so stoked about the news that she and Rob are being nominated at the 2026 International Motor Film Awards.
Back in 2022, before she'd even partner up with Moto Feelz (we'll get to that later), we named her Travel Photographer of the Year and Instagram Content of the Year at the NewsMoto Creator Awards. For a lot of Philippine moto photographers coming up around that time, she was the person whose eye and skill you were trying to match. She was the "idol" moto travel photographer. Watching her name show up on an international shortlist now feels less like reporting on someone else's win and more like watching a friend get the recognition we always figured was coming.
That name is showing up twice. Genio, who works under the moniker Daemon Ex Machina, has produced two films directed by her partner, Australian creator Rob Hamilton of Moto Feelz, and both have landed nominations at the 2026 International Motor Film Awards. One of them is a distinctly Philippine story.
Two films, two very different worlds:
The first, "The Best Tropical Adventure Rally You've Never Heard Of," is nominated for Best Documentary Episode. It's the opening chapter of a two-part series following Team Daemon-BMW Motorrad, the international crew Genio assembled and managed for the 2025 FJ Moto Mountaincross Adventure IV, a three-day, team-only ADV endurance rally that wrapped up in Camarines Sur. This was Hamilton's first-ever motorsport registration of any kind, taken on after he'd already spent time in the Philippines judging the 2024 FJ Moto Creator Awards and touring from Aurora to Abra through the Cordilleras.
Watch The Best Tropical Adventure Rally You've Never Heard Of here:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y8s_Z_yCbz8&feature=youtu.be
The second, "Lost on Planet 11," has nothing to do with the Philippines at all and is nominated for Best Independent Film. It's a fictional short Hamilton shot solo through his other channel, Rob Hamilton Camping, using the Flinders Ranges in South Australia and its Aboriginal petroglyphs to stand in for an alien world, following a stranded astronaut. It's a departure for a channel best known for wordless ASMR camping videos, and by his own account it came out of wanting to escape the algorithm and just make something strange again.
Watch Lost on Planet 11 here:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fT1rUp4PWxA
The team behind the rally film
What makes the documentary worth watching beyond the scenery is the cast Genio put together, most of whom had never met before the rally. Nong Amor of Amorr PH served as team captain, drone pilot, and navigator. Kirk Del Rosario of The Lost Boys PH was assistant manager, photographer, and co-navigator. Mel Aquino of MRSP, a longtime riding instructor, ran sweep. American photographer and former racer Gregor Halenda of Saku-Moto shot stills and coached, and Serbian creator Daniel "Stavro" Girizd came on as the rally's first-ever official photographer, appointed directly by FJ Moto Enduro. Ruvina Donna Yumul of Throttle Life rounded out the crew as production assistant. BMW Motorrad, Insta360, FJ Moto Enduro, Cardo Systems, Mosko Moto, and WLF Enduro backed the production as main sponsors.
Who's behind the cameras
Hamilton's route into this space wasn't a straight line. He trained as an automotive electrician in Sydney, studied music performance, and toured as a double bass player under Sony Music before moving into event and concert photography, then into full-time moto vlogging. Today he runs two channels, Moto Feelz and Rob Hamilton Camping, is a Global Ambassador for Insta360, and is set to embed with Team Australia at the 2026 BMW International GS Trophy in Romania later this year.
Genio's own path runs through Singapore, Japan, Hong Kong, and the Philippines, where she grew up moving between all four. She picked up the name Daemon Ex Machina in 2013 and built a career shooting for Time Attack Manila, writing for Autoindustriya-Motopinas, contributing to Petrolicious, and working as official photographer for the Tour de Cebu historic rally. She's judged Moto Builds Pilipinas, ran social media for Triumph Motorcycles Philippines during its local launch, co-organized the FJ Moto Creator Awards, and consulted for Mazda. These days Daemon Ex Machina operates as a consultancy connecting creators, brands, and cross-disciplinary projects, which is essentially what assembling Team Daemon for a rally documentary turned out to be in practice.
What the nomination is actually worth
The International Motor Film Awards has built a reputation as the closest thing the automotive world has to its own Oscars, with a jury of working professionals in motoring production, motorsport, culture, and design deciding what makes the cut. According to the official release, the 2026 ceremony is set to move from its longtime home at London's Alexandra Palace to the Petersen Automotive Museum in Los Angeles on November 14. A nomination here means that jury watched the film and decided it belonged next to the year's best, nothing more automatic than that.
Whatever happens on the night, the nomination is already the story. A Philippine ADV rally, shot by an Australian director, produced by a Filipina photographer this community watched come up, is now sitting on a shortlist next to some of the best motoring films being made anywhere in the world.
Visit the official site here
https://www.motorfilmawards.com
Photos courtesy of the official Daemon Ex Machina media kit. Rally and team photography by Gregor Halenda (Saku-Moto), Daniel Girizd (Stavro), and Kirk Del Rosario.
Sources: Daemon Ex Machina official media release; International Motor Film Awards (motorfilmawards.com, motorfilmawards.com/jury); FJ Moto Enduro (fjmotoenduro.com); Moto Feelz (motofeelz.com).
