Routine, 5min., Canada
Directed by Abo Fall
Meet Benedicte, a happy young woman living in a beautiful, heavenly garden where she doesn't have a single worry in the world. She loves to wander around, lay on the grass and simply live in the moment.

Get to know Abo Fall:

What motivated you to make this film?

In an ironic way, I think I was trying to get out of a routine myself. It had been a minute since I made any short film or even attempted to finish old scripts. I started feeling trapped in the 9 to 5 life and saw that, unless I made the effort to pursue my passion despite the obvious obstacles, the current life I'm living would be it forever. It pushed me to get out of my comfort zone and make things happen. We filmed this short film with an iphone and a very restricted budget.

From the idea to the finished product, how long did it take for you
to make this film?

I'll say about 4 months. The main issue was that I work in Nunavik but wanted to shoot the short film in Montreal. So, there was a moment where I had everything ready from the script to finding the right team but had to wait for the occasion to fly back to Montreal and finally get to shooting. But once I was on site, things went fast. We shot the entire script in 3 weeks, mainly because we had to work around everyone's availability. And then I spent about 2 months with Vincent Loiselle-Latour, who worked on the sound engineering and Julien Ferland who worked on the score, to create an atmosphere for the film that we would all be satisfied with.

How would you describe your film in two words!?

''Literally me''

What was the biggest obstacle you faced in completing this film?

Time! There was never enough time and, as I said, I work in Nunavik. I had to shoot everything before it was time for me to go back and I had exactly 3 weeks !

What were your initial reactions when watching the audience talking
about your film in the feedback video?

I was thrilled the entire time! I really loved one of the critic's comment, when he said the movie inspired him to want to go make movies himself, that's what's up ! That's what it's all about at the end of the day. Hopefully the story pushes more people to want to try something new and get out of their own ''Routine''!

When did you realize that you wanted to make films?

I was about 18 hanging out with friends in Senegal (where I'm from) that were just as passionate about videomaking as me. Some of them went on to make a cult classic superhero movie named ''Sandaleman'', a movie about a senegalese super hero who's superpowers reside in his sandals. I'm not sure anymore at what point I thought to myself that I wanted to make films since up until then I was mainly making short skits, but somewhere around that time, something in me felt like it was the path to take.

What film have you seen the most in your life?

Spider-man! The first one, by Sam Raimi.

What other elements of the festival experience can we and other
festivals implement to satisfy you and help you further your filmmaking
career?

To be frank, this has been a beautiful adventure and I wouldn't be sure what to add to it.

You submitted to the festival via FilmFreeway. How has your
experiences been working on the festival platform site?

Intimidating because of my initial lack of understanding of how to get one's film to festivals (this is my first time). But once you understand how the website works, it's nice seeing all the different options being offered and it feels like no matter how niche your project is, there's a festival out there for you that filmfreeway can recommend to you if you know the right filters to use.

What is your favorite meal?

It's a Senegalese dish called Mbahalu Saloom. Mainly rice mixed with peanut !

What is next for you? A new film?

You bet! I'm very excited for this one, concept wise. We're still in preproduction, though !