Laissa Malih

Laissa Malih, is a Laikipian Maasai, the first female filmmaker in her community with interests in documenting, linking, amplifying and scaling up grassroots community voices across diverse indigenous cultures in Kenya and the world. Laissa has found her way back home to her people and community through her films, volunteerism and through a community based organization Maasai Cultural Heritage that seeks to document the Maasai traditions, cultures, and heritage. She is also the founder/director of Nomad Footprints Films which is a film hub and home to Kenyan indigenous communities in terms of advocacy, their culture, their heritage, their livelihoods, and lives as a people. She is a Reciprocity Season 2 fellow/filmmaker by Nia Tero where she directed "The Return", a short documentary on her return to her community through filmmaking (set to premiere early 2024). She is a Solutions Storytelling Project Season 2 fellow. Under the program, together with Franklyne Mudulia, she directed and produced "Data-Driven Healthcare" (2023) on the work done by Living Goods. She also co-directed another film in the program, "Our Land, Our Life" (2023) for Rights and Resources Initiative. In 2019 she directed and produced "The River of Brown Waters", a short documentary on climate change, supported by DOCUBOX.