The filmmaker Kent Donguines discusses his new short film Kalinga (Care), screening as part of the DOXA: Documentary Film Festival (06-16 May 2021), about the reality of Filipina caregivers who are separated from their family to care for other families abroad, as well as the personal and societal impact later on, with Joseph Planta.

Text of the introduction by Joseph Planta:

I am Planta: On the Line, in Vancouver, British Columbia, at TheCommentary.ca.

Another important short film at this year’s DOXA: Documentary Film Festival, starting this Thursday running until May 16^th is the short film from Kent Donguines. It’s called Kalinga (Care). In the film, he talks to several Filipina caregivers in the Vancouver area, who like his own mother came to Vancouver from The Philippines or via other countries in Asia. They’d left The Philippines to gain employment as a caregiver or nanny so as to provide for their families at home. The women that Kent talks to in his film narrate often harrowing conditions under which they work. They evoke the loneliness and bitterness they feel caring for families abroad, while their own families are elsewhere. They talk about what reuniting with their families is like later on, and how sometimes estrangement is often the result. And as to why this film is important, Mr. Donguines speaks to Mable Elmore, the MLA in Vancouver-Kensington, about the obligation that the larger society has in caring for the caregivers once they’re older and in need of looking after themselves. One of the powerful things one caregiver says in this movie is that had they known the sacrifice and the consequences to family, they perhaps would not have left. I’ll ask Kent about his film, what’s said in it, and these larger questions that people will need to grapple with here, or in The Philippines. Kent Donguines has produced numerous short films that have played various festivals including the Whistler Film Festival, the Vancouver and Toronto International Film festivals. He has worked for a number of film production companies including Cedar Island Films, where he was a production manager, as well as Telus Storyhive, CBC, Black Cap Pictures, Viva Entertainment, and Star Cinema. He is currently developing a feature length documentary, Treasure of the Rice Terraces. Kent’s Twitter handle is @kentdonguines. Visit www.doxafestival.ca for tickets and information on the film. DOXA is continuing to stream its entire program, and so films will be available across Canada until May 16^th. Please welcome to the Planta: On the Line program, Kent Donguines; Mr. Donguines, good morning.

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