Sanzhar Sultan (born December 7, 1988, as Sanzhar Sultanov) is a Canadian film director, producer and screenwriter.[1][2]

Early life

Sultan was born in the small village of Korday, Kazakhstan. He grew up and studied in at Downside School in England and at Upper Canada College in Canada.[3] In 2007, Sultan moved to New York City to study at the Lee Strasberg Theatre and Film Institute.[4][2]

Career

Sultan (back then as Sultanov) founded his own company, Reverson Entertainment, in 2009, with his brother Said.[5] Sultan's first short film was Makes The Whole World Kin, an adaptation of the original short story by O. Henry, starring Paul Calderon.[6] In 2010 he produced and directed his first feature film Burning Daylight starring Robert Knepper and Calderon in a supporting role.[7] Sultan based the screenplay on three Jack London stories,[8] while the film was set in 1920s New York City.[9] The film premiered in Sonoma, California[10] (Jack London's hometown) and in New York City's Webster Hall.[11] It also received a wide theatrical release in Kazakhstan[12] and was highly acclaimed by many critics.[13][14][15]

In February 2013, Sultan partnered with Canadian venture capitalist and fellow Upper Canada College graduate[3] Loudon Owen and opened up Know Rules Media.[16] In September 2013, the company partnered with director/producer Akan Satayev and his studio SataiFilm, and started pre-production on Hacker. Brillstein Entertainment Partners executive produced. Sultan wrote the screenplay, from a story by Satayev and Timur Zhaksylykov.[17] The film was financed by Timur Meirambekov, Zhanbolat Serikov and Kenges Rakishev on behalf of Mobli.[18] The film had a limited release in the US (under the title "Anonymous"), on December 2, 2016.[19] Following that, Sony Pictures released the film on home entertainment.[20]

In 2016, Sultan was set to produce Business Ethics, starring Larenz Tate and directed by Nick Wernham.[21] The film also starred Lance Reddick, Kurtwood Smith and Angus Macfadyen.[22]

References

External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Sanzhar Sultanov.

• Sanzhar Sultanov at IMDb
• Reverson Entertainment
• Burning Daylight at IMDB