Vancouver filmmaker Kent Donguines was born in Aklan, a province at the centre of the Philippines archipelago. But after moving to Canada at the age of 20, there were times when this native of the Western Visayas felt embarrassed to introduce himself as a Filipino.
“I questioned where I truly belonged,” Donguines says near the start of his new film, Treasure of the Rice Terraces. “The longer and further I was from the Philippines, the less of a Filipino I became. I lost my Pinoy identity.”
The uplifting and quick-paced feature-length documentary addresses how Donguines recovered a sense of pride in his heritage. He accomplishes this through a comprehensive examination of the history of tattooing in the Philippines and a celebration of a 108-year-old tattoo artist named Apo Whang-od.
The Kalinga matriarch has been hand-tapping tattoos since she learned this artform as a teenager from her father. Whang-od lives in the small mountainside village of Buscalan in the heart of the Cordillera Highlands. In this remote part of the northern Philippines, Indigenous people resisted Spanish attempts at colonization.
“It’s a living testament that when a certain part of the Philippines is not influenced by any colonizer or any western influence, they get to keep their culture and celebrate it while also sharing it [with] their visitors,” Donguines tells the Toronto Spark over Zoom.
Treasures of the Rice Terraces premieres on Sunday (October 5) and Monday (October 6) at the Vancouver International Film Festival. In Toronto, Reelworld Film Festival + Summit will present Treasure of the Rice Terraces at 11 a.m. on October 19 at the Paradise Theatre. For tickets and more information, visit the Reelworld website.
Donguines worked on landmark Jennifer Abbott film
Prior to moving to Canada, Donguines earned a bachelor’s degree in communications and media studies at the University of the Philippines. In 2017, he graduated from the Vancouver Film School, specializing in cinematography and film and video production.
His interest in tattooing intensified when he was a producer and co-wrote Asia Youngman’s 2019 short film, “This Ink Runs Deep”. It investigated Indigenous tattooing in Canada.
“I saw my producer and my co-producer and my director get Indigenous tattoos from Indigenous tattoo artists,” Donguines recalls. “I almost had that feeling of envy…where I found myself wondering how I can get that same gift within my culture.
“Because I, at that time, was only a permanent resident here in Canada,” he continues. “So, I thought it was not really appropriate for me to get Indigenous tattoos from Indigenous Canadian tattoo artists.”
Donguines was production manager on Jennifer Abbott’s The Magnitude of All Things, a riveting 2020 film about personal and global planetary grief. That was his first taste of feature-length documentary filmmaking. Donguines followed that up by writing, directing, and producing “Kalinga”, a short film about Filipina nannies’ sacrifices.
He also made the documentary short “Brown Enough” and the dramatic short “Paco” in 2021 and 2022, respectively. As he was doing this work, Donguines remained keenly interested in the revival of Indigenous tattoo cultures across Canada, New Zealand, and the Philippines.
Tattoos frowned upon in many circles
His curiosity led him on a 10,000-kilometre journey back to his homeland in 2024 with cinematographer John Fleming. In his film, Donguines acknowledges that because he comes from a religious family, tattoos were frowned upon in his household. This body art also carries a stigma in broader society because it’s often associated with ex-convicts, hippies, and gangs.
Yet in the town of Boracay in Aklan Province, this art form is considered more acceptable. It’s home to many tattoo artists and it was where Donguines sought his first tattoo.
“When I went home and showed my grandma, she got mad and said it looked dirty,” Donguines reveals in Treasure of the Rice Terraces. “Eventually, she calmed down when I said it would be gone in two weeks.”
Donguines’ fascination with tattooing persisted. While making Treasure of the Rice Terraces, he interviewed the director of the BenCab Museum in near Baguio City. This official notes that tattoos were once a symbol of nobility and were even engraved on mummies dating back more than 3,000 years.
Another key figure in the film is world-renowned tattoo anthropologist Lars Krutak. He was initially a consultant and later became executive producer. Krutak had spent time with Apo Whang-not years earlier and was happy to accompany Donguines on his visit to meet her in Buscalan, where residents speak a dialect called Butbut.
“With our post-production team, the longest process we had was translating all the interviews that were done in Butbut,” Donguines discloses. “There are no…academic translators who know this specific dialect.”
Fortunately, Whang-od’s protégé in Buscalan, master tattooist Grace Pellicas, helped solve this problem.
As the interview draws to a close, Pancouver asks Donguines if there is anything else he would like to say about the project. He responds by softly thanking God for saving him at the right times and places to be able to make this film.
“I’m just blessed and will be forever grateful—and I’m looking forward to killing people with kindness,” Donguines says with a smile.
Screening details
The Vancouver International Film Festival will present Treasure of the Rice Terraces at 8:30 p.m. on Sunday (October 5) at International Village 9. There will be a second screening at 3:30 p.m. on Monday (October 6) at the Granville Island Stage. Donguines will be present for a Q&A after both showings. For tickets and more information, visit the festival website.
In Toronto, Reelworld Film Festival + Summit will present Treasure of the Rice Terraces at 11 a.m. on October 19 at the Paradise Theatre. For tickets and more information, visit the Reelworld website.
Learn more about the communities that make up Canada on the Toronto Spark website. The Toronto Spark is on Bluesky @torontospark.bsky.social.
