The title is taken from a Shona proverb: "One who has set out on a journey is gone: returning takes time." The tape was made in Southern Africa, a region of chronic violence and poverty. Returning Takes Time follows a "journey" from a position of traveller/outsider, to an engagement with perceptions specific to geographical and historical conditions that are part of the fabric of everyday life in the region. The form of the tape reflects the journey but is essentially poetic, and progresses in response to relationships between things rather than following a linear narrative. It begins with loose travelling shots and becomes progressively more focused and directed. A combination of documentary, dramatic, and home video techniques are used in order to personalize and re-locate issues that are usually represented as strictly political.