At the height of the global lockdown, two journalists unravel the web of shady deals and frightening incompetence behind their government’s response to the pandemic

Before getting into ‘This Fortress Built by Nature’, you should make sure to check Patrick Walsh’s 2018 Top 10 selection, ‘Ostrich‘. ‘This Fortress Built by Nature’ is the logical follow up to the political thriller. The film holds just as much praise and depth, despite the challenging restrictions. This story expands further, and brings in a handful of characters as opposed to the duo performance in Ostrich. The film gives us a snippet of the pressures editorial journalism can face. Where decisions that can alter life or entire governments need to be made sharply and more often than not quickly.

Shot with a skeleton cast and crew of 10, on limited locations and budget. The film imagines a world where two young journalists uncover disturbing information about their Government’s mishandling of the pandemic. The film is entirely a work of fiction. But is inspired by world events and journalisms’ constant battle to hold power to account. Following the success of Ostrich, director Patrick Walsh teamed up with Visual Goods to create another punchy political thriller.

Shot during lockdown, Visual Goods wanted to produce a timely story within the parameters of production restrictions under the UK Government and British Film Commissions guidelines (05/06/20 V1.1) Demonstrating how, as filmmakers, they could continue to tell important and compelling stories, whatever the boundaries.

The film stars Joan Iyiola (DỌLÁPỌ̀ IS FINE, Black earth rising), Fiona Gillies (City Slacker, Waking the Dead), Elisabeth Hopper (Dr Who, Black Mirror), James Northcote (The Last Kingdom, The Imitation Game). Alongside voice cast Shobna Gulati, Toby Regbo and Lucian Msamati.