In Louga, Senegal, a new generation navigates between migration, survival, and hope. Through intimate voices and everyday lives, We Who Remain explores what it means to stay, to build, and to imagine a future at home. Between land, labor, and dignity, the film reveals the quiet strength of those who choose not to leave.
Director Biography – Malick LO
Malick LO is a graduate student at the University of Colorado Boulder, where he is pursuing an M.A. in French and Francophone Studies and studying Cinema and the Moving Images.
As a student filmmaker, he is interested in the intersections between storytelling, digital media, and social realities. We Who Remain is part of his ongoing exploration of how film can engage questions of migration, dignity, and belonging in contemporary Africa.
We Who Remain was born from a simple but urgent question: what does it mean to stay?
In many dominant narratives, success is often associated with departure, with leaving, moving, escaping. Yet, in places like Louga where I am from, I encountered individuals who chose a different path. Their stories are not stories of failure or resignation, but of commitment, dignity, and belief in the possibilities of the present.
Through this film, I wanted to create a space of listening. A space where voices often overlooked can speak on their own terms. The camera does not seek to explain or judge, but to accompany, to remain attentive to gestures, words, and silences.
This project is also a reflection on the idea of “well-being.” Beyond economic measures, it invites us to consider relationships, community, and connection to land as essential dimensions of life.
As a filmmaker, I am interested in how cinema can challenge dominant imaginaries and open new ways of seeing. We Who Remain is not only about those who stay, it is an invitation to rethink how we inhabit the world.
