Kazakhstan’s director Akan Satayev will lens the Canadian drama thriller “Hacker,” the first official teaser for which was shown at the Toronto International Film Festival (TIFF) on September 6.
Satayev, who directed Kazakhstan’s Foreign Language Film Oscar entries “Strayed” and “Zhauzhurek Myn Bala,” will start shooting his first foreign project later this fall in various locations including New York, Toronto, Dubai and Bangkok.
The film is based on real events about a young immigrant who gets involved with a cyber criminal organisation called DarkWeb, making money on credit card scams.
“Hacker” is produced by filmmaker Sanzhar Sultanov’s “Know Rules Media” production company, which he launched together with Canadian entertainment investor Loudon Owen in Toronto in February 2013. The $5-million movie will be executive produced by Brillstein Entertainment Partners.
Sanzhar Sultanov and Timur Zhaksylykov will write the script. “A young man becomes involved in the world of hacking, where he finds an easy way of making money. But he doesn’t immediately realise that ‘easy money’ can have serious consequences,” Sultanov told about the story in an interview with the Kino-pravda.kz portal.
Financing for the project will come from a number of investors including Kazakhstan’s Galymzhan Meirambekov, Zhanbolat Serikov, as well as Kenes Rakishev on behalf of Mobli.
The producers plan to present the movie at TIFF next year.
