In March 2018, Sophie Brouwer and Michael Zomer travelled to the Mentawai Islands, 150 kilometres off the western coast of Sumatra in Indonesia, for the world-s toughest yacht race, the Volvo Ocean. While they were exploring the jungle-fringed beaches, they encountered members of the indigenous Mentawai tribe. It must have been a pleasant distraction because the chance meeting birthed their first self-funded documentary. "Their bodies were decorated with traditional tattoos; we were inspired. Michael is a self-taught filmmaker and I, an anthropologist. So, we thought, let-s combine our passions and create a film on the planet-s oldest tattoo practices," says Brouwer, 30, who hails from Utrecht in the Netherlands. That traditional tattooing predates any written language or script means that ink drawings on skin can reveal substantial information about the fundamentals of human existence.

The duo-s Instagram page gathered over 10,000 followers within one month. "People were liking our work even before we had started. And so, crowd funding seemed like the best bet," says Zomer, 29.