Can Star Wars pull Malaysian art form out of the shadows?

Shadow puppets have role in bridging old and new technologies

Darth Vader's distinctive helmet-headed silhouette swoops in to seize control of a spaceship, but this is not the movies - instead his movements are being brought to life by a Malaysian shadow-puppet master behind a backlit screen.

"Tell me, where are the plans that have been intercepted?," the puppeteer intones in the Malay language, drawing cheers from hundreds of spectators as they recognise Vader's baritone.