‘Treasure of the Rice Terraces’ explores Filipino culture through the lens of tattoos

In March 2023, a full-color image of an elderly woman—her lips painted a deep rouge, eyes staring candidly into the camera lens, and weathered, wrinkled skin covered in tattoos faded with age and experience—graced the cover of Vogue Philippines. The woman was Maria “Apo Whang-Od” Oggay, and at 107, the oldest living mambabatok, a practitioner of batok, the traditional Filipino hand-tap tattoo method that originated with the Kalinga tribe high in the mountains of Cordillera Highlands of the Philippines.

Before this, tattoo artists, enthusiasts and historians across the Philippines, and the world, had known of the matriarchal legend, but it wasn’t until the Vogue cover that she became known to the world on a much wider scale. But as notable of a figure as Oggay is, Treasure of the Rice Terraces is much more than a paint-by-numbers documentary about just one woman. It’s about Donguines wanting to learn more about his culture as an adult, immigrant, and filmmaker, through exploring just who Oggay is to Filipino people, what place tattoos have in Filipino history, its present, and its future.

Treasure of the Rice Terraces functions as a journal documenting a filmmaker’s deeply personal and artistic discovery. It also highlights the importance of Indigenous people documenting, performing, passing on, and protecting their ancestral teachings and practices to remove the shadow of colonialism, and bring them out into the light—not just for the world, but for a people separated from their homeland through distance and circumstance. JoySauce recently spoke to Donguines about the documentary, centering women in Filipino tattoo history and culture, and more.

This interview has been edited for clarity and length.

Carolyn Hinds: The documentary begins with your voiceover telling the story of a dream you had for years of an unknown woman standing with her back to you, face turned away. It was only as you began doing research into Filipino tattoo culture and history that it became clear to you this mystery woman was Whang-Od. What was it like for you to have this revelation, and decide to structure the film around that?
Kent Donguines: I think it came to me and my team naturally. Because this film took five years to make from its conception, we had a lot of opportunities to do a lot more research and outreach as well, and we took our time to also do a full immersion (in the community) before we started filming.

But having that revelation of finally confirming the woman in my dream during this process of filmmaking, it was honestly eye opening. When I met her the first time, I was just full of gratitude. I could barely say anything. I was speechless because I never thought that that moment was going to come just because of how uncertain this world could be at times, and just knowing this project was kind of delayed because of COVID-19. 

So, when I finally had that realization, that pretty much gave me enough fuel to continue on the journey, and it allowed me to build a stronger relationship with her and the village where she lives, and knowing I can make something for the community, by the community, that’s what matters.

CH: When you decided you wanted to make a film about Filipino tattoo culture, what was the process of actually doing that for you?
KD: This is definitely a perfect question for my producers. [Laughs] But kidding aside, it was important for us to not come off like any other tourists or vloggers who just came to the village to make a video montage for content to monetize it.

We came into the village with a clear intention of why I wanted to make this film: I wanted to learn something from my own culture, especially part of my culture that I was never really exposed to. It’s much bigger compared to Canadian Adobo in terms of budget, crew size, the travel included, it really took a village to make it all happen.

CH: As you mentioned, there are people who go to places where Indigenous people are still keeping traditions alive to create content that comes off as very exploitive, especially to people of color because we can pick up on the context and tones very quickly. There is none of that with Treasure of the Rice Terraces. I think that, in large part, comes from the genuine curiosity you have for tattoo culture and Whang-Od, but also you really want to understand Filipino culture as a whole.
KD: Well outside of Buscalan and Apo Whang-Od’s story, we’d been battling this in development as well. I constantly asked myself, “What is this film about, really? By the time I finish this movie, what do I want people to get out of it?” But the only way I could answer that is if I could come up with that answer for myself. 

So I saw this film as an opportunity to experience that immersion, and that’s why I think it’s important to point out that’s why the film is a 75-minute immersion film. It was really important for me to take the audience on that journey with me, because I didn’t just want to explore Apo Whang-Od’s story and that village. 

I wanted to explore my whole Filipino identity itself, and the tattoo as an element was just a window into the culture, and I saw that also as an opportunity to just connect with things, cultural events I was once part of that are not available to me here in Canada. That’s why you see a lot of festive moments. A lot of dancing. Lots of concerts, and also experiencing the serenity of the island (Boracay) I almost grew up on, and I really wanted to focus more on the identity side of the film, rather than making another documentary that was a profile of an artist.

CH: You discuss how Spanish colonialism and American imperialism shaped and changed the perception of tattoos in the Philippines. I like that you didn’t hesitate to connect this to colonialism and Catholicism, because of the ideals around purity in the religion brought by the Spanish and the damage colonization does to Indigenous cultures and people, leading them to discriminate against their own.

The film really gets into how tattoos and people who have them are discriminated against, but mainly in the main islands, whereas in the smaller islands like Boracay, not having a tattoo makes you an outlier.
KD: Oh yes! Yeah, I think it was just really important for me to also communicate why I wanted to explore this specific area of my culture, as it stems from my own experience growing up in the Philippines, where a lot of people who have brighter skin are more favored. I’ve seen tourists get more special treatment in restaurants, but we’re both paying customers, paying the same amount. I wanted to communicate where this is coming from. It was my way of trying to show what I and others are still experiencing.

So, it’s a lot of things from the Western presence in our country, to how colonization affected our educational system, to even our constitution, which is based on the constitution of the United States when we had our first Commonwealth Government in the Philippines.

CH: I’d like you to speak a bit about how traditional Filipino tattoos tell a story within the film, and your thoughts on what Lars (Krutak), Apo Whang-Od, Grace, Michelle and Celeste, and the others who share what their tattoos had to say about what their tattoos mean to them.
KD: That was one of the most important things I learned from Apo Whang-Od—which was tattoos, when you put them on your body, it’s like storytelling. You get to know their history, why they got tattoos.

I started looking at my own tattoos as even more personal. Obviously, as a storyteller I don’t just get random tattoos. The tattoos on my body have meaning. One way or another they’re either opening a new thing in my head or closing certain chapters in my life. Tattooing as a form of storytelling is something I think people should practice more. Think more about the importance of why you’re marking your body. In the Bible it does mention that you shouldn’t put marks on your body in the book of Leviticus, in the Old Testament. But now I think, because there is this certain level of resurgence, not just in the Philippines. Most lost traditions are being brought back, and maybe it’s just the perfect time for all of us to reflect and really think to ourselves if our ancestors have done these things in the past, how can we keep that ingrained in our culture and still amplify it?

CH: I love how female centered the film is. Because in the beginning of the film, the tattoo artists, historians, and TV personalities you spoke with are men, but once you get to discussing what tattoos really mean on a personal and cultural level, it’s women who are the focal point.
KD: Thank you so much for saying that. I appreciate it. One of the reviews I got on Letterbox was how they felt that this movie was told entirely in a male gaze. And while I don’t want to go there, I’m not straight! [Laughs]. But it was really important for these really inspiring and empowered women to take the stand to take the time and space to talk about their stories.

Even the majority of the villagers that we featured in this film are all women. They’re staples of the households. They run the households. If they’re not running the family, they’re running the homestay business in the village. If they’re not doing that, they’re tattooing. This is a village that empowers women and respects women, and I’m just really honored that I got to tell their story because at the end of the day, my job as a director was to make sure all of that is communicated beautifully and in a more cinematic way. Their knowledge and strength, and how they also have each other's backs, is something that men can really learn from.

CH: So, what is it like for you as a filmmaker observing all of these aspects of society converging on just this one particular thing—tattoos—and putting all of these puzzle pieces of the stories shared, the stigmas, history, identity, and culture to make Treasure of the Rice Terraces?
KD: I’m going to give you something so personal here. [Laughs] In 2024, I realized as a filmmaker and as an artist to always ask the question, “If not art, then what?” And faith came into the picture to answer the question only to teach me that my job as a filmmaker is to find the beauty in chaos. And I think Treasure of the Rice Terraces is a perfect example of that.

Even my other previous films, I love really spending time and looking at the beauty of the simplest things. But speaking of Treasure, it uncovers, unpacks so much over one thing, and that’s a beautiful representation of what I want to do as a filmmaker—which is to show people how chaotic this world can be when you take the time to pause, and just observe, or watch in this case, you’ll realize how beautiful life is. And how beautiful the things around us are.