A festival in Myanmar that sees people swig whisky and talk to the Gods has become a major celebration not only for spiritual mediums, but also the wider LGBT+ community.
While Myanmar is a predominantly Buddhist country, many people also worship local spirits known as Nats.
Each year, various Nat festivals are held across the country - with the largest and best-known taking place at Taungbyon, which is a small town just outside the second-largest city, Mandalay.
Advert
At these gatherings, mediums known as Nat Kadaws (spirit wives) come together to drink alcohol and talk to the spirits.
A new documentary from Something™ Originals about whisky brand Johnnie Walker, The Man Who Walked Around the World, explores how the country's gay community has found freedom through spirituality, and the pivotal role that these annual events play.
Sithu Thet, a spirit medium and chairman of the Nat Kadaw Association, says: "We act as mediums between the Gods and humans.
Advert
"In Buddhism we honour the Gods, monks and our parents. We ask for help with what we need."
"In the past, homosexuals were not accepted in Myanmar. Gay people in the Nat Kadaw community can live freely and can dance happily."
The footage shows the role that booze also plays within the celebrations, with the quality of alcohol seen as a direct indicator of status among the spirit mediums.
Advert
Thet continues: "The Nat festival is the celebration of the mediums. We used to offer them palm juice, and then we offered basic liquors. But as times have changed, people started to offer more valuable drinks.
"Us mediums drink to receive good blessings. If you are just a humble person you can use Red Label. If you are more successful you can offer Black Label. If you are very successful you can offer the most expensive one, Blue Label."
The Man Who Walked Around the World comes from Emmy and triple Bafta-winning director Anthony Wonke.
Advert
Charting the rise of Johnnie Walker as a global brand, it also serves as an 'exploration of what it takes to become an icon in popular culture'.
The documentary looks at the rise of Johnnie Walker; from playing a part in some of history's most notable events, to being immortalised on screen by Hollywood filmmakers, sung about by stars, and celebrated by novelists.
Never-heard-before stories, archival footage and in-depth conversations give insight into how sheer determination and a pioneering spirit took Johnnie Walker from a small town in Scotland, to having a spot reserved in almost every bar around the world.
The Man Who Walked Around the World also tells many other remarkable stories of how the iconic whisky brand has found itself embedded in national customs and culture or major world events.
Advert
So popular is the drink in India that it became a fixture in Bollywood films - with one of the country's biggest film stars changing his name to Johnny Walker.
Legendary Bollywood Actor, Badruddin Jamaluddin Kazi changed his name to Johnny Walker after winning a role in a film - even though he was teetotal.
He would perform funny routines while working as a bus conductor, hoping to be spotted by someone with connection to the movie industry. His wish came true when he barged into the office of famed director Guru Dutt. From that one meeting, he gained a role in Baazi and went on to feature in all but one of Dutt's films.
"Johnny Walker's impeccable style lent a new meaning and respectability to the genre of comedy in Indian cinema," said Atal Bihari Vajpayee, the then Prime Minister of India, on Johnny's death.
The documentary also tells the tale of how Johnnie Walker was smuggled into the US during prohibition inside hollowed loaves of bread, shipped via the Caribbean to try and avoid detection.
During the ban on the production, importation, transportation, and sale of alcoholic beverages from 1920 to 1933, Scotch had a reputation of being the premier luxury spirit. And Johnnie Walker the leading Scotch brand in the world.
But the film starts with the shocking story of how the drink was the preferred gift given by US military bosses to Iraqi terrorist informants - during a series of operations that led to the capture of Saddam Hussain.
Michael Pregent, a former intelligence officer with more than 28 years' experience in security, terrorism, counter-insurgency and policy issues, said the bigger the meeting, the more expensive the whisky would be.
"We would have a meeting planned with an Iraqi politician or bad actor and through our network we would find out what they wanted to drink," he said. "Johnnie Walker was always mentioned, Blue was reserved for the big players".
"In these meetings, we would gauge the time to introduce Blue. There was usually hesitance and caution in answering or discussing the topics we wanted to address until the second or third pour, with rapport established we could ask anything and we absorbed every word."
Find out more and watch the documentary here.
Topics: World News, News