Тимур Бекмамбетов

TIMUR BEKMAMBETOV was born on June 25, 1961 in the city of Guryev, in the former Kazakh Soviet Socialist Republic. At the age of 19, he moved to Tashkent, in the former Uzbek Soviet Socialist Republic, where in 1987 he graduated from the A. N. Ostrovsky Theatrical and Artistic Institute with a degree in theater and cinema set designing.

Between 1992 and 1997, Bekmambetov was one of the directors of Bank Imperial's popular World History commercials. In 1994 he founded Bazelevs Group, an advertising and film production, distribution and marketing company.

Bekmambetov's first feature, "Peshavar Vals" (1995), aka "Escape from Afghanistan," was a violent and realistic look at the war between Russia and Afghanistan. The film was dubbed in English and released directly-to-video by Roger Corman in 2002. Bekmambetov next produced and directed an eight-part miniseries for television entitled "Our ‘90s." He then returned to directing features, with the Roger Corman-produced "The Arena" (2002), a remake of the 1974 film of the same name. In 2002, Bekmambetov directed and co-produced (with Bahyt Kilibayev) the film "GAZ-Russian Cars."

In 2004, Bekmambetov wrote and directed "Night Watch" (2004), a Russian fantasy film based on the book by Sergey Lukyanenko, then a sequel, "Day Watch" (2002) and a smash hit "The Irony of Fate-2" (2007).

Bekmambetov's Hollywood directorial debut, "Wanted" (2008), an action blockbuster about a secret society of assassins, was based on a comic-book miniseries of the same name written by Mark Millar.

Bekmambetov has also produced a number of films in the U. S. and Russia, including "9" (2009), the story of a rag doll in a post-apocalyptic world, directed by Shane Acker and produced by Bekmambetov, Tim Burton and Jim Lemley. Bekmambetov produced the Russian language action movie "Black Lighting" (2009), with Universal Pictures.

In 2010, Bekmambetov was one of the directors of "Yolki," a. k. a. "The Six Degrees to Celebration," which became the second highest grossing Russian film. In February 2011, Bazelevs released the Bekmambetov-produced "Vykryutas" (a. k. a. "Lucky Trouble") starring Milla Jovovich and Konstantin Khabensky.

Bekmambetov also produced "Apollo 18," a found-footage science fiction thriller, and "The Darkest Hour," a science fiction film set in Moscow, produced by New Regency.

Bekmambetov received the International Filmmaker of the Year Award at CinemaCon, the official convention of the National Association of Theater Owners.

20th Century Fox