When Time
Stood Still
A documentary film by Zamzam Elmoge
When Time Stood Still follows Toga’s return to the refugee camps in Kenya more than two decades after fleeing Somalia’s civil war. What begins as a journey back to a place once left behind unfolds into a wider reflection on migration, separation, and the lasting impact of exile.
Through an intimate, observational lens, the film situates her return within a broader history of displacement, examining what it means to leave home and live with that departure across time. In revisiting the ground that once marked rupture, the film confronts both the distance created by war and the complexity of coming back.
Director’s Note
I approached this film as both filmmaker and daughter. My mother rarely spoke about her life before the camps or about the years spent in them. In Kenya, her world was confined within those boundaries. Returning now, she encounters that space differently no longer limited to the walls that once defined her life.
Through this process, I began to understand more clearly who she was, and who she has become. Seeing her return made me recognize how much she had been defined by circumstance, and how much existed beyond it.