Max Fisher’s RULE, BRITANNIA is a politically charged short drama that examines patriotism, fear and the human consequences of anti-refugee rhetoric through a sharply constructed story of two brothers whose assumptions are challenged by the very people they set out to confront.

Directed by Fisher and co-written by Ayman Alhussein and Greer Ellison, the film follows two patriotic brothers who steal a fishing boat and head into the English Channel with the intention of stopping a refugee small boat. What begins as an expression of certainty and confrontation quickly turns into a struggle for survival when the brothers sink and find themselves rescued by the people they had intended to oppose.

That reversal forms the foundation of the film. The brothers begin their journey convinced of their purpose, but their circumstances rapidly change. Once stranded on an overloaded dinghy, their confidence gives way to fear, forcing them to experience vulnerability in circumstances they had previously viewed from the outside.

The film uses that change in perspective to examine the relationship between fear and division. Set against the debate surrounding refugee small boats, RULE, BRITANNIA considers how fear can be spread and used to divide people, while confronting racist and anti-refugee ideology and the consequences of allowing such ideas to become increasingly mainstream.

The story’s central irony is deliberately difficult to ignore. The people the brothers initially regard as a threat become the people upon whom their survival depends. That situation creates the film’s central dramatic tension while challenging the assumptions that drive the brothers’ actions in the first place.

The cast includes Olivier Award-winning Michael Jibson, Tom Page-Turner and Anton Valensi. Jibson won the 2018 Olivier Award for Best Supporting Actor in a Musical for HAMILTON and has appeared in 1917, BODIES and LAST NIGHT IN SOHO. Page-Turner makes his professional acting debut in the BBC adaptation of LORD OF THE FLIES, while Valensi’s credits include BAFTA-nominated THE MOST BEAUTIFUL MAN IN THE WORLD, LUTHER, TOP BOY, ANDOR, DUNE: PART TWO and MISSION: IMPOSSIBLE – DEAD RECKONING PART ONE.

Behind the film is a creative team with substantial experience across film and television. Fisher began his filmmaking career as a youth worker, using storytelling to empower vulnerable young people, including refugees and young offenders. He later worked across documentary and commercial filmmaking, including projects for the Red Cross, Guide Dogs and CALM.

RULE, BRITANNIA is Fisher’s third and most ambitious short. His films have screened at Tampere, Odense, Raindance, Edmonton, San Jose and Encounters, among other festivals. He is now moving into narrative drama and is developing his first feature.

The film is produced by Sam Topley and Maddy Easton. Topley has produced films screened at Oscar® and BAFTA-qualifying festivals including Tampere, Odense, Raindance and Edmonton, and launched the independent studio Tarot in 2025. Easton is an award-winning producer with more than 20 years of experience and over 150 productions to her name. She is also a Kodak/BAFTA Short Film Showcase-winning producer whose recent work includes Fisher’s award-winning short MOUSE!.

The production’s creative team includes Oscar® and BAFTA-winning editor Stephen Dunne and cinematographer Luke Jacobs, whose credits include the Sundance-premiering NOTHING COMPARES. BAFTA-nominated co-producer Byron McNally is also part of the team.

The original score comes from award-winning composer Jon Clarke, whose credits include RAGING GRACE and KISSING CANDICE, with music supervision by Jen Moss, whose credits include I, TONYA, SAINT MAUD, AMERICAN ANIMALS, MISBEHAVIOUR and BAFTA-winning BEAST.

The film has already received recognition on the festival circuit, winning Best Drama at both Brighton Rocks International Film Festival and Sunrise Film Festival, as well as the Si Spencer Award at Unrestricted View Film Festival.

Those festival achievements now sit alongside the film’s qualification for consideration for the 99th Academy Awards® and its BAFTA-qualifying status. Together, they mark an important stage in the film’s festival journey and bring its examination of nationalism, fear and anti-refugee rhetoric to a wider awards audience.

What gives RULE, BRITANNIA its central force is the way it turns an ideological conflict into a situation of immediate human dependence. The brothers begin the story believing they know who their opponents are. Circumstances then place them in a position where those same people become essential to their survival.

The film ultimately centres on the consequences of seeing other people through the lens of fear. By placing its characters in circumstances that strip away their initial certainty, Fisher creates a short that directly engages with the politics surrounding refugee small boats while keeping its focus on the people caught within that conflict.

With its strong festival record, Academy qualification and BAFTA-qualifying status, RULE, BRITANNIA enters awards season as a short film built around a clear and deliberately challenging premise: what happens when the people we have been taught to fear become the people we need?