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The Coward Short Film - 15 minutes of hell in the War of 1812

15 minutes of hell in the War of 1812

Funding & filming in 2027

Experience the War of 1812 through Dónal Kelly, an Irishman in the British Army in Canada. As a brutal battle erupts around him, homesickness and horror overwhelm Dónal, forcing him to choose: Canada - or Ireland…

Kickstarter

Coming February 2027!

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Invasion!

Summer 1814, near Niagara Falls.
The Americans have crossed the Niagara River again.

THE HERO
DONÁL KELLY is a recent Irish immigrant to Canada. Bored with menial labour and caught up in the excitement of war he joined the British Army. He’s an average soldier at best and mentally unprepared for the violence of his first battle - Lundy’s Lane, 1814.

& HIS JOURNEY
Thrown into a desperate fight against the invading Americans, Kelly struggles with his rising panic and an overwhelming longing to go home to Ireland. As casualties mount and iron cannonballs keep punching mercilessly through the men around him, Kelly’s mind starts to crack.

Can Kelly overcome his fear? Will he commit to his new home in Canada - and actually fight for it? Or will he break and run?

Cast
Brett Houghton

Kelly

Brett Houghton

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Nabil Traboulsi

Matthews

Nabil Traboulsi

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Richard Veltri

Sgt. Pike

Richard Veltri

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Adam Fawns

Lt. Latimer

Adam Fawns

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David R. Walpole

Boswell

David R. Walpole

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Our Objective

THE COWARD is a visceral live-action short film about fear and belonging during the pivotal War of 1812.

It is high time a live-action film properly showed what the soldiers of that time endured, and with the same detail and energy usually reserved for modern conflicts, such as in “Saving Private Ryan”.

This is a two-year, multi-shoot-day project. We’ve already shot Day 1 - watch it here. In 2027 we will run a Kickstarter to raise at least CAD$40,000 to shoot Day 2.

Kickstarter is a website where people raise money for a project by asking the public to support it. It has funded films, books, games and music since 2009.

A Supporter pledges an amount that they’re comfortable with. If the project reaches its target by the deadline, their credit card is charged and the work goes ahead. If it falls short, nobody pays anything.

Our own Kickstarter campaign will launch February 2027. You can join our newsletter to get notified in advance!

Direction

Direction

Learn more Still: Vanity Fair (2018)

Kelly’s hands serve as a visual thread tracing his transformation. At the outset they fumble, uncertain, as he struggles with his musket – a soldier barely more than a boy.

In the final scene they move with precision. He grips, loads and fires not with hesitation, but with certainty.

Cinematography

Cinematography

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Our primary visual reference is the Omaha Beach assault of ‘Saving Private Ryan’: the camera moving inside and with the action, instead of at a distance. Men fighting, shouting. Being blown apart, falling, dying.

Now picture them in red jackets, fumbling with flintlock muskets on a boiling hot July day in 1814.

The visual rhythm of this film will shift between those frenzied, suffocating battlefield sequences and passages of haunting stillness, as Kelly falls into memories of home back in Ireland. This tension between chaos and calm will drive the camera to be ground-level, handheld and tightly focused on the individual men.

Weapons

Weapons

Learn more Still: The Patriot (2000)

A critical narrative element is the terrible effect of heavy iron cannonballs striking packed groups of men at high speed. Few sights on the battlefield were as horrifying as a cannonball tearing through tightly packed ranks.

Animated storyboard of soldiers in the ranks as cannon fire strikes, from Animatic #3 | Cannon Fire

These moments are built from a blend of in-camera practical effects, prosthetics and controlled stunts – not CGI alone.

Reenactors

Reenactors

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Thompson’s Company of the 2nd York Militia serve as our background performers. As dedicated living historians they don’t just wear the uniforms – they embody the soldiers of 1812, down to the way they march, handle their weapons and respond to battlefield commands.

Capt. Greg Carraro will direct the re-enactors on the shoot day, along with Sgt. Bert Jagoda (who will also be training our cast in musketry and drill).

The 2nd York Militia in green and red uniforms with muskets, standing in a line outdoors; Capt. Greg Carraro and Sgt. Bert Jagoda are labelled
Costumes

Costumes

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Soldiers are grimy, bloodstained and exhausted from hours of brutal combat. Their uniforms – historically precise yet battered by war – reflect the grit of the battlefield.

Torn fabric, mud-caked boots and sweat-soaked shakos strip away any romanticised notion of military grandeur.

Our historical consultant is Peter Twist.

A NOTE ON FACIAL HAIR: The Napoleonic-era British Army was considered clean-shaven, but grooming wasn’t a daily affair on campaign. This film occurs at the end of long days of marching and fighting, so light stubble and 5 o’clock shadows are natural and true to the day. But there won’t be any pioneer beards or heavy moustaches.

Our Team
Conor M. O’Brien

Conor M. O’Brien

Director & Writer

Kellyann Murphy

Kellyann Murphy

Producer

Mack Calistan

Mack Calistan

Director of Photography

Mark Delottinville

Mark Delottinville

Executive Producer

Allan Levine

Allan Levine

Executive Producer

Cam Anderson

Cam Anderson

Editor

Lize van der Bijl

Lize van der Bijl

1st Assistant Director

Peter Twist

Peter Twist

Historical Consultant

Sean Kaufmann

Sean Kaufmann

Casting Director

Erik Arnesen

Erik Arnesen

Sound Designer

Audun Moseng

Audun Moseng

Composer

Director’s Intent

Hi. I’m Conor O’Brien. I wrote THE COWARD and I’m directing and producing it.

This film is about two things: Fear and Belonging.

Read on

The Belonging part is personal. A decade ago I’d just moved into film and TV production here in Canada, and homesickness for Ireland hit me hard. New career, no money certainty, a brand new baby daughter, and an uncomfortable question I couldn’t shake: should I have stayed in Ireland?…

THE COWARD was one of the first scripts I wrote and honestly, it was cathartic. Every rewrite since, those themes of Belonging and Fear have stayed at the heart of it. Dónal Kelly, the Irish immigrant soldier at the centre of the film, is basically me in a red coat; and the War of 1812 gives me a uniquely Canadian frame to place him within.

Which brings us to Fear. The War of 1812 was a crucial moment in the birth of Canadian identity, yet it has barely been touched by filmmakers. A small war, a long time ago, who cares? However - the muskets and cannon used in Canada were just as lethal as any used in the great battles over in Europe. If you’re a common infantryman and cannonballs are tearing apart the men beside you, it makes no difference whether they’re fired from a French cannon or an American. The terror is the same.

So THE COWARD stays close to the ground. It’s about ordinary men, in one brutal battle, in a forgotten war that Canada was built on.

For me, this film is where everything comes together: my homesickness for Ireland, a lifelong obsession with Napoleonic warfare, and the history of the place I now call home. I self-funded Day 1 last year and I’m very happy with it. I want to shoot more, and really make it stand out.

I intend for this to be a new story in a heritage that Canada, America and Ireland all share. I hope we can make that happen, together.

Close

Respect

This project does not describe, involve or allude to Indigenous culture. This is due to the specific type of combat depicted.

The British Army in 1812 needed to fit as many muskets as possible into their battle lines. They solved this by packing the men shoulder to shoulder into rigid lines.

The narrative and our camera work are fundamentally motivated by this physical restriction of the men - the British soldiers cannot leave their intensely dangerous situation.

By contrast, Indigenous warriors were much freer to avoid danger as they saw fit. This basic difference in warfighting styles would require a fundamentally different script.

Warfare is expressive of the societies waging it. I personally have very little knowledge of North American First Nations societies and history.

I would be repeating old ideas, unfounded myths and out-right lies. Certainly not intentionally - but unintentional harm is still harmful.

As an Irishman I'm intolerant of cheap and lazy depictions of my own culture. If I cannot write truthfully about someone else's then I should stay silent. Indigenous culture can speak for itself.

Conor O'Brien

Conor O'Brien

Writer & Director

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