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After a lot of hosting gigs and many Netflix Christmas movies, Vanessa Hudgens is doing a documentary next. She is going to film a travel documentary where she explores her Filipina heritage. Later this month, Vanessa, her sister, and her mother will travel to the country of her mother’s birth to begin filming the doc. It will be Vanessa’s first trip to the Philippines.
Actress Vanessa Hudgens is heading to the Philippines to explore her family history as the star of a new travel documentary. The film will capture Hudgens’ first trip to the country of her mother’s birth, showcasing her close relationship with her family and her personal trajectory as an American-born, half-Filipino woman who has become one of the world’s most recognizable stars.
The project is set to begin shooting in the Philippine cities of Palawan and Manila later this month. Hudgens will be accompanied on the journey and in the film by her mother, Gina Guangco, and her sister, Stella Hudgens. The actress has often spoken with pride about the biography of her mom, who left the Philippines for the U.S. at age 25.
“I feel like ours is such a relatable story to so many women all over the world,” Hudgens says. “The more that we can share, the more we can lift each other up.”
The still untitled film will be produced and directed by Paul Soriano, director of Mañanita (a competition entry at the 2019 Tokyo International Film Festival) and the Manny Pacquiao biopic, Kid Kulafu. Soriano also produced Lav Diaz’s A Lullaby to the Sorrowful Mystery (2016), which won a special film award at the Berlin International Film Festival and Transit (2013), which was the Philippines’ entry in the Best International Film Category for the 86th Academy Awards. Philippine boutique studio TEN17P is producing the new Hudgens doc.
“We are honored to work with Vanessa for this film project,” says Soriano. “It’s inspiring to note that with everything she has achieved in life, she wants to discover her Filipino roots and pay homage to her mother’s country. Hopefully, this opens doors for many more collaborations to come.”
This is a really cool project for Vanessa. It sounds like it will be both personal and fun and it’s really nice that she’s able to bring her family along. She’s always seemed close to her family (her dad sadly died a few years ago the same weekend she was in Grease Live!) so it’s nice that they can do this together. I am a tiny bit surprised that for all her money and resources, this is Vanessa’s first trip to the Philippines. It doesn’t say whether her mother has been back since she moved here at 25. The description of the doc says “it will showcas[e] her close relationship with her family and her personal trajectory as an American-born, half-Filipino woman who has become one of the world’s most recognizable stars.” It’s never too late to explore and connect with your roots. Also, it will be a nice way to highlight the Philippines as a travel destination for people who may not have considered it otherwise.
So wonderful! I love watching these types of documentaries and also love the Philippines. It’s such a beautiful place to visit.
I had no idea that she is half-Filipina! I don’t understand why people still don’t think to vacation in the Philippines. I preferred it to the Maldives. Gorgeous place, gorgeous people.
I echo your sentiments both about it being a gorgeous place to visit and surprise that it is not a top destination for Americans. I went in the 90s, backpacking, and spent about a month traveling on the cheap , island hopping, and it was fabulous!
I flew into Manila and then straight away went to Palawan first. I was very surprised that I did not encounter ONE other American tourist while I was there. They were mostly French and German; and, I understood from them that it was considered a prime tourist vacation spot, especially for people like my then self – young people traveling on the cheap.
One factor may have been negative State advisories. At the time I was there, there were people who had been kidnapped and were still being held. This would almost routinely happen and may have been one reason why Americans stayed away.
Hopefully this documentary will shine a light on the beauty of the Philippines and its people and encourage more people to travel there.
Oh cool! I never knew she was Filipina but looking at these pics it seems so obvious! Gosh she’s going to have such a great time, the Philippines seems amazing, I’d absolutely love to visit. All the Filipinos I know are hilarious (and lovely!)
Echoing that I cann’t believe she has never been. My folks are both foreign-born and I went back to the “homeland” on the cheap with the first few bucks I made.
Also want to say that that gold dress is gorgeous.
This sounds like something I’d definitely watch! I have wanted to visit there for awhile – my brother had the good fortune to work there on a project and he loved it. His coworkers dragged him out for karaoke and made him try foods he’d never have attempted on his own. Then later I watched the “Parts Unknown” Manila episode with Anthony Bourdain and was so taken with the people. Incredibly moving episode – if you haven’t seen it, go find it.
She’s my celebrity doppelgänger and I get asked if I’m Filipina quite often. I’m surprised she’s never been, but I’m looking forward to watching this.
I’ve always had a soft spot for her since I’m also half-Filipina, but count me in as also being surprised she’s never gone to visit the Philippines before. Growing up, we always tried to go every few years to visit my mom’s side of the family!
I’m half too and have a soft spot for her and all the others too!
I’ll join the ‘I had no idea crowd’ on this. It sounds like a really interesting project.
I’ve only been to the Philippines once for a very short trip to Manilla with work and while I didn’t get to see much of the country I’d love to go back. At the moment my strongest memory is arriving at the airport to leave very early in the morning and discovering that I needed cash for some kind of exit visa. I’d carefully spent the little currency I had and then had to frantically try and find a working cashpoint (this was c.2010 maybe).
As a Filipina-American I, too, am side-eyeing why she didn’t visit the Philippines earlier. The fact is, a lot of Filipinos who immigrate to other countries think and talk about the Philippines in derogatory terms, esp in comparison to their new home nations. I wonder if that’s what went on here w Vanessa Hudgens’ mom? I know it’s complex — there is also trauma in leaving and migrating and it could be a lot of reasons made her mom have more negative than positive feelings towards her country of origin. But for all its poverty and other problems, I find the Philippines gorgeous and fascinating and consider it one of my homelands.