Ruth Sayers

Disillusioned by the dystopian society in which he lives, Jack struggles between indispensable fear and illicit desire, 30 years after the zombie apocalypse.

In the year 2043, 30 years after the zombie apocalypse – the virus has evolved within us all – one touch will unleash it. Jack, and the last of humanity, live under the ultimate truce – to never touch again. Working day to day as a disposal officer for the bio-research initiative, Jack sees the last ravages of the plague – in those who defect, who succumb to touch, disease and a despicable death – but all from behind the safety of a pane of glass. Yet as the memories of his mother’s last loving touch begin to unravel him, Jack sinks deeper into a void between the sterile and the depraved, where desire is forbidden, fear is mandatory and everything depends on which side of the glass you stand behind.

What can you love when you have everything to fear?

A Note from the Director

Since its creation the zombie genre has been an incredibly popular and prolific one. However, finding an audience for a zombie film shouldn’t just be about riding the coat-tails of one of the most successful genres of today, it also needs to be about something more significant, something human. The Zombie isn’t just a mindless monster – it is a metaphor, used by many touncover something unpleasant about society – much how George A Romero used his zombies in Night of the Living Dead as a social commentary of America in the 60s: eg. Vietnam and African American activism. Thus, the best zombie films haven’t really been about the zombies at all, but about the circumstances the zombies create. Here, 2043 – set 30 years after the zombie apocalypse, uses the terrible circumstances of a world born from the paranoia of disease and infection to create a narrative not only for lovers of the Dystopian Science Fiction genre and the Zombie genre, but for those in touch with the political climate of the time.

The most terrifying thing about a zombie is the lack of humanity, of emotion, of affection – but in a world of total emotional disconnection and oppression – on which side would you choose to be?

2043 is our grad film – the big one. The one to jump start our dreams and careers as future filmmakers, and we have set off at full steam, ambitiously. We ask you to be a part of something creative, as well as supporting the next generation of Australian Cinema – an industry in need of your support.

About the project...

2043 is currently a 14 page script and will go into production in late August of this year. It's being made as part of our third year studies at Swinburne and most of our crew will be unpaid students or recent graduates.

The film draws parallels with human experimentation through the 20th and 21st century, the more recent detainment of asylum seekers and discrimination against HIV/AIDS sufferers in the '80s. Like many films in the Science Fictiongenre, it's telling a story and providing a social commentary.

We describe the film as a zombie film that's not about zombies - it's a sci-fi story that gets quickly to the human heart that beats underneath.

We're looking to raise $5,000 towards this film. Our producer and director have already scraped together $8,000, which, if we shoot on 16mm, covers stock, processing and grading, plus feeding the crew and production design - but leaves very little for things like location hire, prosthetics and explosions (side note: there's an exploding head in the script), fire, armourers and other things that contribute to the world we're trying to depict. Even if we shoot digital, with what we have already saved, there's still very little wriggle room!

If it helps, think of it this way: we're putting in a little over 50% of the budget from our own pockets. We're looking for you to give a tiny portion from your pocket to help raise the rest ... or more than a tiny portion, if you're so inclined.

(Still from 16mm camera tests!)

To find out more, head to our Facebook page, www.facebook.com/2043movie or, if you want to get in touch with us, shoot our producer, Ruth, an email, at ruthjsayers at gmail dot com.