The memory of others exists almost to stretch itself out, bit by bit until it fills up whole, even the most mundane parts of our lives. In the experimental film, Xalaatal, meaning “thoughts” in the Senegalese language, Wolof, the magnitude of what those who have lived with us leave behind is explored. Through the life of Khadim, we see the importance of a mother figure in a teenager’s life. As he approaches puberty and is faced with the loss of his family, his journey of remembering and recounting lessons and pieces of advice once given to him, begins. Xalaatal follows Kadim’s moments of nostalgia and how these might begin to shape his life moving forward.