USA, United Kingdom, Russia, Cyprus
2018 105 mins OV English
Official selection
Berlin international Film Festival 2018, SXSW 2018
"Terrifyingly immediate"
David Ehrlich, INDIEWIRE
"Absolutely captivating. A film that not only entertains and engages, but lingers?
Sarah Ward, CONCRETE PLAYGROUND
"Striking... Shows the slippery nature of performed online identities and how the immense scale of social media can collectivize and weaponize alienation and anger from around the world into real world terror"
Joe Blessing, THE PLAYLIST
On a mission to investigate the phenomena of Western women being lured to Syria to become Jihadi brides, British freelance journalist Amy Whittaker (Valene Kane) creates a fake Facebook profile as a radicalized convert, likes several extremist posts and, before long, finds herself catfishing an ISIS recruiter (Shazad Latif). A two-way game of cat-and-mouse ensues that will rivet you into a cold sweat as stakes escalate relentlessly beyond all breaking points. Based on French journalist Anna Emoire's best-selling memoire In the Skin of the Jihadist, PROFILE takes the concept of adopting a true story for the screen to potent new heights by having the entire tale unfold exactly where it occurred ? on its central protagonist?s computer display.
When not making blockbusters for major studios, Director Timur Bekmambetov has been exploring what he calls "Screenlife" storytelling, a pioneering approach first seen in UNFRIENDED (a Fantasia world premiere), that brilliantly captures the ways we engage online. This year sees a trio of works that he's produced in this style, the others being the Sundance breakout SEARCHING and Blumhouse?s UNFRIENDED: DARK WEB, both also screening in this year's lineup, each playing with a wholly unique impact from the others. PROFILE is the one that Bekmabetov chose to direct, and it's a harrowing tour-de-force of knockout storytelling that's at once innovative and deeply dramatic, taking the Screenlife approach to the full-bloom next level as it gives us inner character perspectives of the sort that were previously only possible with literary devices. Seen with a crowd, the film comes to life as a thrillingly immersive shared experience that?s as engrossing, visceral and frightening as cinema could ever be. No wonder it's won audience awards at both SXSW and the Berlin Film Festival. Anchored by a pair of phenomenal lead performances, PROFILE is smart, pertinent and tense beyond belief. It will positively lay you out. - Mitch Davis
