Directed by Harold Kouton

Logline: Far from home, memory takes root through flowers.

Synopsis: A woman, far from her homeland, tends her backyard garden and speaks to her late grandmother through the flowers.

Distribution Contact: WFG

More Details

RUNTIME: 2 Minutes
GENRE: Experimental, Documentary
PRODUCTION FORMAT: Super 8mm
LANGUAGE: English
LOCATION: Manitoba
KEYWORDS: Documentary, Experimental, Super 8, Analog film, Portrait, Memory, Identity, Film Grain

Director's Statement: Abba is a film about distance and continuity. Far from her homeland, a woman finds a quiet way to speak to her late grandmother through everyday gestures in her garden. Working with Super 8 allowed me to embrace fragility, texture, and time as part of the storytelling. The film avoids explanation and dialogue, choosing instead to let memory surface through presence, rhythm, and materiality. This is a personal exploration of inheritance, loss, and what continues to grow beyond absence.

Just before the Super 8 Film Incubator began, my wife lost her grandmother. Watching her grieve from afar brought back strong memories of my own maternal grandmother, with whom I had been very close. As I was searching for a story to tell, this personal sense of loss naturally became the starting point of the film.

Living in Canada, my wife was unable to return to her home country to attend the funeral. This distance, the impossibility of being present, and the experience of mourning away from home deeply informed the film. I drew from my own memories and emotions connected to my grandmother and linked them to what my wife was experiencing in the present.

Another important challenge was writing in English. As a francophone still learning the language, this process became both a creative difficulty and a meaningful part of the project.