Meursault - Short Film

Aim

Our aim is to create an ambitious and emotionally striking film that explores violence, trauma and repression through a unique perspective

Follows a gun in reverse chronological order as it’s passed between a shattered couple and a violent father, leaving an intergenerational trail of grief and heartbreak beginning in the Yugoslav wars.

We are a team of final-year Film Production students at the University of Portsmouth, coming together to create our most ambitious film yet.

Meursault follows a gun through interconnected lives, beginning with a brutal murder and moving backwards through the events that led to it. As the story unfolds, we uncover the repressed traumas and fractured relationships connecting Luka, his boyfriend Vigo and his father, Goran. Our story finishes by taking us back to Goran's past during the Yugoslav Wars, revealing how the consequences of violence can persist across multiple generations.

Rather than simply telling a story about violence, we want to explore what violence leaves behind and does to its perpetrators and survivors. By revealing consequences before their causes, our reverse chronology allows the audience to piece together the characters' histories, gradually understanding what made them as they are at the start of the film. 

We aim to create an emotionally striking and visually ambitious film that stays with audiences long after the credits roll. At its heart, Meursault is a story about people: their relationships, their suffering and expressions of suffering and their struggles to live with the past.

Our Creative Vision

We want Meursault to feel cinematic, atmospheric, visually striking and emotionally raw. We are drawing inspiration from films that use unconventional structures and distinctive visual storytelling, developing a style that supports the film's themes of repression, grief, masculinity and generational trauma.

Our visuals will reinforce the contrasts and similarities between different periods of the story, while keeping the characters and their relationships at its centre. From intimate, emotional performances to the environments in which the story happens, every element of the production will contribute to the film's atmosphere and meaning.

Our main creative inspirations include Gaspar Noé's Irreversible and Robert Bresson's L'Argent, which offer similar approaches to emotional intensity and unconventional storytelling. Meursault will however, develop its own identity through its characters, setting and visual style.

The Team

The production is led by director and writer Calum Hall, alongside producer James Gerfen, and supported by a talented crew with experience across a range of student film productions.

Calum's screenplay is at the heart of Meursault, combining a reverse-chronological structure with a showcase of emotionally demanding relationships and intergenerational trauma. As both writer and director, he will bring his understanding of the story and its characters directly into the filmmaking process, in the film's performances, atmosphere and visuals.

Producer James Gerfen has produced multiple short films, including an action short featuring sword fighting, and has experience line-producing a previous final-year production. Working closely together, Calum and James aim to realise the screenplay's full potential while ensuring the creative vision is supported by careful planning and practical, realistic production management.

Our graded team includes lead editor Ellie Udobang, first assistant director Hayden Paul, lead sound mixer Isabella Cooke, VFX artist Oliver Morphet, first assistant camera Louis Langdon, and casting director and BTS documentary director Jack Dann. Over the coming months, we will also be massively expanding the additional crew with other upcoming filmmakers from first and second year film production, contributing their skills and creativity to the production.

As developing filmmakers, we want to tell stories that explore difficult ideas and use cinema to express something properly meaningful. Meursault is an opportunity for us to bring together our individual talents in pursuit of a shared creative vision.

Why We Need Your Help

Meursault is a challenging production involving a variety of locations, period elements, practical effects, action sequences and emotionally demanding performances. Delivering the film to the standard we want requires careful planning and financial support.

Every donation will go towards making the film. Our main expenses include cast, locations, costumes, props, production design, transport, catering and music. We are particularly keen to invest in strong performances, as the film depends on communicating complex emotions and relationships with authenticity.

We want the money raised to be visible on screen. Your support will help us create convincing environments, realise the film's visual ambitions and give the cast and crew the resources they need to do their best work, rather than compromising on the details that make the story effective.

Where The Money Goes

Our current estimated budget (for what is currently planned to be a 10 day shoot) is broken down as follows:

Cast - £1,270: up to £1,200 for our three lead actors, plus £70 for extras.

Locations - £750: securing a house for three days, a corner shop and a fort needed to bring the different periods of the story to life, among other locations potentially requiring a fee.

Production design and miscellaneous - £875: props, set dressing, costumes, makeup and special effects.

Catering - £60: contributing towards food and refreshments during filming.

Music - £50: helping cover the cost of music for the film.

Transport - £300: helping cover crew mileage, cast travel reimbursements, and extras' travel and parking.

Contingency - £320: allowing us to pay for unexpected costs during production.

These figures are preliminary estimates, and we will continue refining the budget as filming arrangements are confirmed. Every contribution will help us move closer to delivering the film as we envision it.

Help Us Bring Meursault to Life

We are already months into developing the project and putting the foundations in place. For us, this is about more than completing our degrees. We want to make a film that represents the best of what we can achieve together, gives every member of the team an opportunity to showcase their craft, and serves as a strong foundation as we enter the film industry.

We intend to submit Meursault to film festivals and use the finished film in our professional portfolios. Most importantly, we want to create something that audiences can connect with, question and remember.

Whether you donate £5 or £100, share our Crowdfunder or social media pages, or simply take the time to read about the project, we are incredibly grateful for your support.

Thank you for helping us bring Meursault to life!

Funding method

Keep what you raise – this project will receive all pledges made by 9th January 2027 at 3:00am