Vanessa Hudgens’ upcoming Paul Soriano-directed PH travel docu gets mixed reactions (2024)

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• BYAmrie Cruz

• March 23, 2023
• 5:48 pm

Thoughts on Vanessa Hudgens’ upcoming Philippine travel documentary to be directed by presidential adviser on creative communications Paul Soriano? It seems the internet is already divided on it.

The documentary will reportedly be shot in Palawan and Manila this March. It will showcase the American-born half-Filipino actress’ relationship with her Pinay mom Gina Guangco Hudgens, who emigrated to the US at 25, and her younger sister Stella.

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A post shared by 🔮Vanessa Hudgens🔮 (@vanessahudgens)

“I feel like ours is such a relatable story to so many women all over the world,” Hudgens said. “The more that we can share, the more we can lift each other up.”

Back in February, Hudgens announced her engagement to Colorado Rockies Major League Baseball player Cole Tucker. She also just launched her new skincare line called Know Beauty this month. With all these major changes in her life, now does seem like a great time to step away from Hollywood for a bit and reconnect with her Filipino heritage. This will reportedly be her first trip to the country.

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A post shared by Gina Hudgens (@mamagh)

At the helm of the untitled project is Soriano who says, “We are honored to work with Vanessa for this film project. 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.”

Soriano’s boutique film company TEN17P is set to produce the documentary. No word yet on the distributor or where it’ll be broadcasted or streamed. Whether Soriano will also be working in the capacity of presidential adviser for the project is left to be clarified.

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A post shared by Gina Hudgens (@mamagh)

A number of netizens expressed wariness over the project with Soriano’s name attached. The director caught a bit of flak from his controversial statement describing his wife Toni Gonzaga as the country’s “most powerful celebrity.” A distant nephew of President Bongbong Marcos’ wife Liza Araneta-Marcos, he has been a longtime vocal supporter of the Marcos family.

Hudgens is no stranger to criticisms, too. Back in March 2020, she apologized for her “insensitive” comment in an Instagram Live where she said that it’s “inevitable” people will die from the pandemic.

But controversy aside, what would the documentary look like? Under Soriano, the Office of the Presidential Adviser on Creative Communications recently launched a series of short documentaries on Philippine culture, history, and identity called “On The Ground.” So far, the series has bayok in Bangsamoro, Apo Reef Natural Park rangers, the Philippine Accessible Disability Services, Inc. (PADS) Dragon Boat Team, and drug use among Filipino youth. We’re guessing something akin to those.

Will you be tuning when the documentary drops?

Photo from Vanessa Hudgens’s Instagram

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