Sanzhar Sultan (born December 7, 1988, as ''Sanzhar Sultanov'') is a Canadian

film director A film director or filmmaker is a person who controls a film's artistic and dramatic aspects and visualizes the screenplay (or script) while guiding the film crew and actors in the fulfillment of that Goal, vision. The director has a key role ...

, producer and

screenwriter A screenwriter (also called scriptwriter, scribe, or scenarist) is a person who practices the craft of writing for visual mass media, known as screenwriting. These can include short films, feature-length films, television programs, television ...

Early life

Sultan was born in the small village of

Korday Korday or Kordoy (, ; ) is a village in Jambyl Region of Kazakhstan, and the administrative center of that region's Korday District. It has been formerly known under its old Russian name of Georgievka. European route E40, known locally as High ...

Kazakhstan Kazakhstan, officially the Republic of Kazakhstan, is a landlocked country primarily in Central Asia, with a European Kazakhstan, small portion in Eastern Europe. It borders Russia to the Kazakhstan–Russia border, north and west, China to th ...

. He grew up and studied in at

Downside School Downside School (formally The College of St Gregory the Great, Downside but simply referred to as Downside) is an 11–18 mixed, Roman Catholic, independent, day and boarding school in Stratton-on-the-Fosse, Somerset, England. It was establish ...

in England and at

Upper Canada College Upper Canada College (UCC) is an independent day and boarding school for boys in Toronto, Ontario, operating under the International Baccalaureate program. The college is widely described as Canada's most prestigious preparatory school, and ha ...

in Canada. In 2007, Sultan moved to

New York City New York, often called New York City (NYC), is the most populous city in the United States, located at the southern tip of New York State on one of the world's largest natural harbors. The city comprises five boroughs, each coextensive w ...

to study at the

Lee Strasberg Theatre and Film Institute The Lee Strasberg Theatre & Film Institute (originally the Lee Strasberg Theatre Institute) is an acting school founded in 1969 by the actor, director, and acting teacher Lee Strasberg. The Institute is located in Union Square on East 15th Str ...

Career

Sultan (back then as Sultanov) founded his own company, Reverson Entertainment, in 2009, with his brother Said. Sultan's first short film was ''Makes The Whole World Kin'', an adaptation of the original short story by O. Henry, starring

Paul Calderon Paul may refer to: People * Paul (given name), a given name, including a list of people * Paul (surname), a list of people * Paul the Apostle, an apostle who wrote many of the books of the New Testament * Ray Hildebrand, half of the singing duo P ...

. In 2010 he produced and directed his first feature film ''Burning Daylight'' starring

Robert Knepper Robert Lyle Knepper (born July 8, 1959) is an American actor best known for his role as Theodore "T-Bag" Bagwell in the Fox drama series ''Prison Break'' (2005–2009, 2017), Samuel Sullivan in the final season of the NBC series '' Heroes'' ...

and Calderon in a supporting role. Sultan based the screenplay on three

Jack London John Griffith London (; January 12, 1876 – November 22, 1916), better known as Jack London, was an American novelist, journalist and activist. A pioneer of commercial fiction and American magazines, he was one of the first American authors t ...

stories, while the film was set in 1920s

. The film premiered in Sonoma, California (Jack London's hometown) and in New York City's Webster Hall. It also received a wide theatrical release in

and was highly acclaimed by many critics. In February 2013, Sultan partnered with Canadian venture capitalist and fellow Upper Canada College graduate Loudon Owen and opened up Know Rules Media. In September 2013, the company partnered with director/producer

Akan Satayev Akan Satayev (, born December 23, 1971) is a Kazakhstani film director, actor, screenwriter and producer. Honored Worker of Kazakhstan and laureate of State Award of the Republic of Kazakhstan. Biography Akan was born to a family of actors, bot ...

and his studio SataiFilm, and started pre-production on

Hacker A hacker is a person skilled in information technology who achieves goals and solves problems by non-standard means. The term has become associated in popular culture with a security hackersomeone with knowledge of bug (computing), bugs or exp ...

Brillstein Entertainment Partners Brillstein Entertainment Partners (formerly known as Brillstein/Grey Entertainment and Brillstein/Grey Communications) is a talent management firm and television production company formed by the 1986 addition of Brad Grey to The Brillstein Compan ...

executive produced. Sultan wrote the screenplay, from a story by Satayev and Timur Zhaksylykov. The film was financed by Timur Meirambekov, Zhanbolat Serikov and Kenges Rakishev on behalf of Mobli. The film had a limited release in the US (under the title "Anonymous"), on December 2, 2016. Following that, Sony Pictures released the film on home entertainment. In 2016, Sultan was set to produce

Business Ethics Business ethics (also known as corporate ethics) is a form of applied ethics or professional ethics, that examines ethical principles and moral or ethical problems that can arise in a business environment. It applies to all aspects of business c ...

, starring

Larenz Tate Larenz Tate (born September 8, 1975) is an American film and television actor. He is best known for his roles as O-Dog in ''Menace II Society'', Anthony Curtis in ''Dead Presidents'', and as Councilman Rashad Tate in '' Power''. Tate's other fi ...

and directed by Nick Wernham. The film also starred

Lance Reddick Lance Solomon Reddick (June 7, 1962 – March 17, 2023) was an American actor. He portrayed Cedric Daniels in ''The Wire'' (2002–2008), List of Fringe characters#Phillip Broyles, Phillip Broyles in ''Fringe (TV series), Fringe'' (2008–201 ...

Kurtwood Smith Kurtwood Larson Smith (born July 3, 1943) is an American actor. He is known for playing Clarence Boddicker in ''RoboCop'' (1987), Robert Griggs in '' Rambo III'' (1988), and Red Forman in ''That '70s Show'' (1998–2006) and '' That '90s Show' ...

and

Angus Macfadyen Angus Macfadyen (born 1963) is a Scottish actor. His roles include Robert the Bruce, both in ''Braveheart'' and ''Robert the Bruce'', Komodo in '' Warriors of Virtue'', Vice-Counsel Dupont in ''Equilibrium'', Jeff Denlon in the ''Saw'' franch ...

. Principal photography began in Toronto, Ontario in October 2016. The film won the Audience Choice Film Award at the 2019 Newark International Film Festival. The film was released on premium streaming on October 23, 2020. In December 2018, Sultan founded a movie-review based social media platform.

References

External links

*
Reverson Entertainment''Burning Daylight''
at IMDB {{DEFAULTSORT:Sultanov, Sanzhar 1988 births Kazakhstani film directors Kazakhstani film producers Canadian people of Kazakhstani descent Canadian film directors Canadian film producers Living people