Phipop (2005)

Overview

The narrator looks for Khema, a missing shaman singer in Laos. His investigation progressively becomes an initiatic travel among outcasts, renowned for their magical powers, accused to be "phipop", supernatural creatures behaving like vampires, still terrifying laotian villagers. This traveller's diary in search of ghosts through the forests, is a true story which looks like a chamanic tale. For most Laotian people, the invisible world of spirits is more real than what we call reality in modern western life. This film shows this "other laotian reality", mixing rational and objective facts with events born from collective unconsciousness. Is it a documentary or fiction ? This question is the main theme of the film.