Skip to main content
The Return film image; group of people standing side by side

The Return

Enchukunoto

VIFF Short Forum

Malih returns to her community as the first Maasai filmmaker—both an insider and an outsider, a woman amongst men—so that she may carry on the sacred tradition of storytelling.

 

Supported by

    

Community Partner

Director
Featuring

Dukuya Lekominga, Nderi Lolinge, Patrick Ole Saikong, Reuben Legei, Clinto Lekominga, Rupes Caro

Credits
Country of Origin

Kenya

Year

2024

Language

In Maasai, Samburu and English with English subtitles

Film Contact
Links
18+
16 min
Award Winners Black Cinema Documentary Shorts Women Directors
Nia Tero, Upstander Project Production

Credits & Director

Executive Producer

Tracy Rector

Producer

Kavita Pillay, Tracy Rector, Adam Mazo, Taylor Hensel

Screenwriter

Laissa Malih, Kavita Pillay

Cinematography

Franklyne Mudulia Manono

Editor

Sauli Pillay

Original Music

Soundstripe, Moments

Laissa Malih headshot; The Return director

Laissa Malih

Laissa Malih is the first female Maasai filmmaker. Her work focuses on documenting, linking, amplifying, and scaling up youth and women’s voices across diverse Indigenous cultures in Kenya and the world. Her 2020 documentary, River of Brown Waters (2020), looks at the significance of the Ewaso Ng’iro, a river that serves as a lifeline for pastoralist communities surrounding Mount Kenya. In addition to film work, Malih has participated in international conferences and fellowships focused on climate adaptation and cultural legacy.

Missing VIFF? Check out what's playing at the VIFF Centre

The Leopard

Dir. Luchino Visconti
185 min

Lampedusa's elegiac account of a 19th century Sicilian aristocrat, Prince Salina, fading into history is one of the pinnacles of Italian cinema, an epic which influenced the tempo and gravitas of The Godfather, Age of Innocence and The Deer Hunter.

VIFF Centre - VIFF Cinema

Namesake

Dir. Eileen Francis & Evan Adams
76 min

Powell River... named for Israel Wood Powell, a 19th century politician and a man of his time, an advocate for residential schools and the Indian Act. The Tla'amin Nation asks the city to consider changing its name, a request which sparks intense debate.

VIFF Centre - Lochmaddy Studio Theatre

The Company of Strangers

Dir. Cynthia Scott
106 min

In this Canadian gem, seven elderly women find themselves stranded when their bus breaks down in the wilderness. With only their wits, memories and some roasted frogs' legs to sustain them, this remarkable group of strangers share their life stories.

VIFF Centre - Lochmaddy Studio Theatre VIFF Centre - VIFF Cinema

Dances with Wolves

Dir. Kevin Costner
181 min

Kevin Costner's handsome, sympathetic epic expressed admiration for Native American peoples and went on to win 7 Academy Awards including Best Picture, Best Director, Original Screenplay and Cinematography. Screening on 35mm.

VIFF Centre - VIFF Cinema

True Romance

Dir. Tony Scott
120 min

Rockabilly comic book clerk Clarence (Christian Slater) meets dream girl Alabama (Patricia Arquette) with trouble in her wake, in this seminal couple on the run thriller from Quentin Tarantino's excitable mind.

VIFF Centre - Lochmaddy Studio Theatre VIFF Centre - VIFF Cinema

Pulp Fiction

Dir. Quentin Tarantino
154 min

In the spirit of Quentin Tarantino, we're going to launch our summer series 90s, Baby! smack in the middle, with 1994's Pulp Fiction, the most exciting and influential movie of its era. Screening on 35mm.

VIFF Centre - VIFF Cinema