The Guardian of Stories: Preserving Laotian Folktales Through Puppetry
In the documentary The Guardian of Stories, Italian filmmakers Claudia Bellasi and Markus Steiner Ender embark on a mission to preserve the rich oral histories of Laos. The film follows Siphai Thammavong, a dedicated storyteller who fears that the country's folktales will be lost to time as the younger generation becomes more transfixed by their smartphones than the rich oral histories of Laos.
The filmmakers travel with Thammavong deep into the country to meet the keepers of history, and the audience is granted the chance to listen in and watch as some of the stories are played out via the marvelous puppetry of Laos' Khao Niew Lao Theater, based in the capital Vientiane. One such story is "The Frog Eats the Moon," which seeks to explain the phenomenon of a lunar eclipse through a tale involving a frog, a snake, a squirrel, a healer, and his magic herbs.
The documentary is in the running for this week's Golden Goblet at the Shanghai International Film Festival, and it adds a whole extra dimension to the story. The filmmakers were on a five-month talent-sourcing trip across Southeast Asia three years ago when they came to meet the puppeteers of the Khao Niew Lao Theater, who then spoke of Thammavong and his work for tourists in his native river-side city of Luang Prabang.
The presence of Thammavong as the film's central storyteller gives it its narrative core, and there's a palpable passion for his work as he sometimes sits on the ground, with notepad and pen at the ready, satchel slung over his shoulder and deeply immersed in the tales he is hearing. The filmmakers say they were at pains to ensure the film was a collaborative effort involving European filmmaking experience with the crew they worked with on the ground in Laos, a nation with a nascent and slowly growing film industry of its own.
The filmmakers are hoping now, from Shanghai, to reach audiences at other international festivals and to find international distribution partners. The audience certainly appears to be out there — the three Shanghai screenings sold out within hours. The Golden Goblet award winners at SIFF will be announced on June 21.
In conclusion, The Guardian of Stories is a heartfelt and informative documentary that combines the quirks and comedy of puppets with the deep narrative drive of a worthy mission. It allows its audience to pause and think about what Laos — and the world — might well be losing, all set against the stunning surroundings that abound in the Southeast Asian nation.
