Nearly two years after its initial announcement and following a very turbulent 12 months for life in general due to the COVID-19 pandemic, a highly-anticipated and star-studded film about Malta’s bloody 1919 riots is finally being released today. And it’s been such a ride that the film’s even been through a name change!

Over the weekend, the final trailer for Blood On The Crown was released, but local film fans will recognise it as the previously-named Storbju (Just Noise). 

Featuring impeccable CGI that takes localities like Valletta a whole century back – not to mention Hollywood stars Harvey Keitel and Malcolm McDowell – this is the first film ever to be filmed in Malta and be based on Maltese history.

Of course, judging by the snippets we’ve been given in the last year – and especially now with this longer trailer – it looks like both Keitel and McDowell’s characters might quickly become two of the most hated in local film history… and with good reason too.

Being distributed by LA-based Electric Entertainment, the film promises to tell “the concealed account of how Maltese citizens fought for their independence against England in 1919.”

And while the Sette Giugno riots are something that every single Maltese student very quickly learns about at school, newly-released snippets in this latest trailer have teased a behind-the-scenes cover-up that is set to blow the minds of ardent historians alike.

After all, a lot of what really happened on that fateful day remains shrouded in mystery and passionate hearsay, and while over 100 young Maltese people were blamed for the violence that claimed the lives of four men and injured over a dozen more, sometimes it takes a film like this to remind everyone which side actually wielded rifles and bayonets.

Produced and written by Jean-Pierre Magro, Blood On The Crown also boasts the likes of producers Pedja Miletic, Aaron Briffa, director Davide Ferrario and executive-producing duo Roland Joffe and Shayne Putzlocher.

With cinemas still not quite what they were pre-pandemic, Blood On The Crown will instead be available to watch as of today via TV-on-demand.

Also available on other platforms like Xumo and Distro, Electric Entertainment has its own platform, Electric Now, and these can all be downloaded from the distribution company’s website.

Tag someone who seriously needs to watch this!