Max Fisher Makes Waves with Sea-Soaked Thriller Tackling Radicalisation

​Rogue has launched the trailer for Max Fisher’s latest short film ‘Rule, Britannia’.

A nail-biting survival thriller with a sharply political edge that asks the question, “how are ordinary people becoming radicalised?” “What happens when fear becomes ideology?” And “when the truth confronts us, do we change, or double down?”

Written and directed by Max Fisher, and co-written by Greer Ellison (Butterfly Kisses, The Beast Within) and Ayman Alhussein (The Swimmers, MATAR), the story blends dark satire with emotional weight.

The film is produced by Sam Topley and Maddy Easton, through Rogue, Tarot and You Boy. Executive producers are Kate Taylor, James Howland, and Dave Birchall, with BAFTA-nominated Byron McNally (Wren Boys) as co-producer.

Partnering with Choose Love, a global humanitarian charity that supports refugees and displaced people by providing effective aid, has been instrumental in the continued journey of the film.

Emma Stevenson, deputy CEO at Choose Love said, “We are so thrilled to be partnering with such a bold and powerful film. We are facing a crucial time, where politics is divided and politicians are scapegoating refugees and displaced people. With forced displacement around the world rising, we cannot afford to lose our humanity and empathy for each other. That’s exactly what this film shows, which is why we know it's going to have such a strong impact. We need to keep supporting each other, and building a world with love - not hate - at its centre.”

Max Fisher commented on the importance of the charity’s involvement, “We are incredibly proud to have partnered with Choose Love, their support underpins our commitment to raise awareness around themes of empathy, migration, and nationalism and use storytelling as a platform to encourage real world conversation outside of the film.”

“With Rule, Britannia Max has crafted a unique genre blend of life and death survival thriller, mixed with a highly charged political commentary" said Greer Ellison, Crystal Bear-winning co-writer - that is as nail biting as it is important - right now!”

Max Fisher, who is now developing the story as a feature on why this was a film he had to make, “Small boats are not the biggest problem facing this country, not even close. But a misplaced fear of them is being used to divide and distract us. This film is about how that fear spreads and takes on a life of its own.

I believe passionately that we must confront racist and anti refugee ideology because if we sleepwalk into letting it become mainstream then we will suddenly find ourselves in the same position as our protagonist - tied to the mast of extremism without any room left for humanity. And in that case our own kids will end up paying the price for our failure to act.

“Our film examines how ordinary people can be drawn into extreme beliefs, and how fear is a tool of division. But it also argues for empathy as a radical, unifying act, and for storytelling as a bridge between these fractured perspectives.” Added Sam Topley producer.

Starring Olivier Award-winner Michael Jibson (‘1917’, ‘Last Night in Soho’), Anton Valensi (‘Dune: Part Two’), and breakout talent Tom Page-Turner (‘Lord of the Flies for the BBC’), the film is a high-concept short shot entirely at sea off the coast of Weymouth and was shot over only two days with the support of Marine Dept (‘The Swimmers’, ‘Napoleon’, ‘Paddington in Peru’), to bring cinematic scale to this urgent issue.

Rule, Britannia had support from some of the best post production partners in its creation, the film was edited by BAFTA and Oscar winning editor Stephen Dunne (‘Last Swim’, ‘An Irish Goodbye’), has an Original Score by Jon Clarke (‘Raging Grace’ – SXSW Grand Jury Award), with Black Kite Studios on board for VFX with and a stunning grade by George K (‘Kissing Candice’).