A whos who of anti-EU campaigners turned out for the premiere of Brexit: The Movie at Londons Leicester Square on Wednesday (11 May 2016). The documentary is the brainchild of libertarian filmmaker Martin Durkin and his production company WagTV.
Durkins team successfully raised more than £114,000 ($164,399) on Kickstarter from more than 1,600 backers to fund the project. Eurosceptic heavyweights such as Conservative MP David Davis and Ukip leader Nigel Farage were joined by hundreds of others at the screening.
The feature-length film mixed interviews, graphics and gags to make the case for a leave vote in the EU referendum on 23 June. But the movie made little to no mention of immigration, an issue that Brexit backers have continually campaigned on.
Durkin told IBTimes UK that the main message of the film is: Freedom and democracy is very important and we have to get it back. Farage echoed the filmmakers comments, stressing the anti-red tape message of the movie.
All through history, if you free up the little man and little woman, they go out and do go things: create wealth, pay taxes and employ people, the Ukip leader told IBTimes UK.
The point this film makes is that we are part of completely over-regulated market that puts a set of rules in place for big business that suits big business because it doesnt suit small- and medium-sized business. Actually, the real message is that there is a potential liberation here, and I hope thats what people take [away].
Labour MP Kate Hoey also enjoyed the red-carpet treatment, and spoke to IBTimes UK in the wake of Alan Johnson branding Brexit campaigners as extremists. The idea that he said that was not something you would have expected from him, Hoey said. I dont mind the term extremist if extremist means I want to see my country independent and free, and thats what we hope to have after 23 June.
Tory MEP Dan Hannan, a long-time opponent of the EU and well-known media figure, was also in attendance. IBTimes UK asked the Brexit campaigner if he thought that David Cameron should stay on as prime minister in the event of a leave vote.
I dont know whether he would want to, Hannan replied. Having said what he has said about the consequences of the leave vote, I wonder whether he would be the right person to implement the will of the people.
James McGrory, chief campaign spokesman for Stronger In, said: The leave campaign can make as many movies as they like, but when the lights come up, the audience will be no more informed about what Britain outside Europe would actually look like.
Leavers want to pull out of the EUs Single Market of 500 million people, hitting our economy to the tune of £4,300 for every household. Britain is stronger, safer and better off in Europe, and leaving would be a damaging leap in the dark.
