Schools teach you that Australia is the world’s smallest continent and a single country. School is only half right. Rapid Films director, Craig Rasmus, has just released a documentary called, Atlantium: The Smallest Country In Australia. Atlantium is a legitimate sovereign state and an Australian country you may not have even heard about.

Rasmus’ film tells the story of the leader and emperor of Atlantium, George II (aka, George Cruikshank) – the story of one man’s journey to become the founder of the second largest micro-nation in the world.

Atlantium occupies an area of land twice the size of Vatican City and sits on a property called Aurora, in rural NSW, about a four-hour drive South West of Sydney. It has its own government, currency, post office, flag, national anthem and citizenship of over 3,500 citizens. You can even stay at Atlantium via Airbnb for AUD$65 per night.

The film was selected as Vimeo Staff Pick of the Week, and featured in The SMH Entertainment section. It has also notched up impressive reviews, including AU Review, and an interview with Rasmus in Monster Children, which the publication introduced with the statement, “After seeing director Craig Rasmus’ recently released short film Atlantium: The Smallest Country in Australia, you can see there’s an idea behind it. An idealistic one for sure, but why not? We chatted to Craig about his film and found out a bit more about the man we’d like to poach for our own government, right after we sin bin Pauline.”

Rasmus told Monster Children, “His message is about sharing a global world. He sees countries and borders now as being used not to protect citizens, but to keep poorer citizens and countries in the current state that they’re in. His view seeks to open up all the borders, let everyone go where they want to go and choose their own country, as opposed to being stuck in the one that they were born in geographically. To be aligned with a government that more closely represents what they believe in.”

He noted, “If he wasn’t the leader of another country I would say that George (Cruikshank) is a fascinating Australian. I find what he has done over the past 35 years both unbelievable and inspiring all at once. I hope the film lets people rethink what is considered achievable for an individual.”

Rasmus worked with his producer, Rita Gagliardi (Rapid Films) on a three-day shoot to capture the story of Atlantium after first getting a glimpse inside the world of George II late last year.

“Over the 2015 Christmas break I saw an interview with Emperor George II on ABC News, Australia. His story fascinated me and I thought it would be a great story to tell in a creatively engaging way that was as unique as the story itself.”

He has also directed ads for Samsung, WWF, NRMA and Ronald McDonald House. In 2014, he won first place in the Young Director Awards in Cannes, France, for his 5Fund charity campaign for UNICEF/ Qantas. He has since won awards at Adfest, AWARD and One Show.

About Atlantium (in its own words):

“Atlantium recognises that the days of nation-states founded on fixed geographical locations or majority ethnic identities are numbered, as global mobility, cultural evolution, and the growth of electronic communication networks render the assumptions that underlie and provide justification for their existence increasingly obsolete.

“In an age where people are unified by common interests and purposes across –rather than within – traditional national boundaries Atlantium offers an alternative to the discriminatory historic practice of assigning nationality to individuals on the basis of accidents of birth or circumstance.

“Atlantium has a heritage that spans three decades. What began as a local political statement by three Sydney teenagers on 3rd Decimus, 10500 (27th November, 1981) has since evolved into the world’s foremost non-territorial global sovereignty movement and state entity, with a diverse, rapidly growing population living in some 90 countries.”

For the curious, there are Atlantium’s answers to frequently asked questions here.