Siphai Thammavong runs a convenience store and looks after his family, but he is also on a mission to save the traditional stories of Laos. He travels to remote rural villages throughout the length and breadth of the nation’s stunning countryside, which contains several distinct ethnic groups, such as the Hmong, the Khmu and the Lao Loum. Here he searches out the last elderly storytellers keeping their precious folktales alive. They are not yet lost to the oblivion of encroaching urbanisation and technologies in the modern world.

Having salvaged stories such as ‘the frog eats the moon’, he brings them back to life through a magical collaboration with the Khao New Lao puppet company. When it seems these days that every bureaucrat is telling us about the importance of storytelling, it is truly inspiring to see stories brought to life in such a direct and enchanting fashion.