---
name: "Timur Bekmambetov"
canonical: "https://film.one/person/timur-bekmambetov"
fi1m_id: "timur-bekmambetov"
imdb_id: "nm0067457"
tmdb_id: 23430
wikidata_id: "Q344854"
roles: ["Producer","Director"]
born: "25 June 1961"
reviewed_on_fi1m: 3
average_fi1m_score: 66
average_as: "producer"
average_over: 2
updated: "2026-10-05T05:35:57.055306+00:00"
licence: "© Fi1m Ltd. Written by AI under a human editor; checked against sources before publication. Quote with attribution and a link to the canonical URL."
---

# Timur Bekmambetov

## Identity

Timur Bekmambetov

- **Canonical:** https://film.one/person/timur-bekmambetov
- **Type:** Person
- **Fi1m ID:** timur-bekmambetov
- **IMDb ID:** nm0067457
- **TMDB ID:** 23430
- **Wikidata ID:** Q344854
- **Same entity:** https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Timur_Bekmambetov, https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q344854, https://www.imdb.com/name/nm0067457/, https://www.themoviedb.org/person/23430

Producer and director. Born 25 June 1961 in Guryev, Kazakh SSR, USSR [now Atyrau, Kazakhstan].

## Details

- **Work:** Producer, Director
- **Born:** 25 June 1961, Guryev, Kazakh SSR, USSR [now Atyrau, Kazakhstan]
- **Active:** 2008–present
- **Also known as:** Timur Bekmambetow, Тимур Бекмамбетов, Timur Nuruakhitovich Bekmambetov
- **Titles on Fi1m:** 3: 1 directing, 2 producing
- **Average Fi1m score:** 66, as producer, over 2 titles
- **Fi1m score by decade:** 2000s 68 (1), 2020s 66 (2)
- **Elsewhere:** https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Timur_Bekmambetov, https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q344854, https://www.imdb.com/name/nm0067457/, https://www.themoviedb.org/person/23430

## Streaming the US now

- **The Roku Channel:** [*Wanted*](https://film.one/film/wanted.md) (68)

For United States; add `?region=XX` for another country.

## Fi1m on Timur Bekmambetov

> Timur Bekmambetov backs films that find unfamiliar ways to stage familiar thrills. We value his curiosity as a producer, especially his commitment to screenlife, while often wishing the stories had received as much attention as the format.

A cursor hesitates before a click in *LifeHack* (2026), and a heist has found a way to show somebody thinking. The film stays on its characters’ screens, turning chat windows, video calls and browser tabs into the places where the action happens. Timur Bekmambetov is one of its producers, and his backing of the screenlife format is the most interesting part of his work. He is worth following for his willingness to support an unfamiliar way of telling a familiar story, though the results can wear us out.

*Night Watch* (2004) and *Day Watch* (2006) brought him to prominence as a director of fantasy, before his Hollywood debut with *Wanted* (2008). James McAvoy keeps Wesley Gibson recognisably human as the office worker enters an assassin’s life. Bekmambetov makes the action inventive and intermittently exhilarating, but he also insists too often that being able to hurt people amounts to improving yourself. We can enjoy the extravagant gunplay without accepting the film’s tiresome enthusiasm for it as a solution to unhappiness.

The turn towards producing brought *Unfriended* (2015) and *Searching* (2018), both part of his effort to make stories unfold through screens. He also produced *Hardcore Henry* (2015), with Ilya Naishuller directing action from a first-person viewpoint. These are useful choices for a producer to make: they give directors a specific problem to solve rather than merely another familiar plot to illustrate. Ronan Corrigan’s first feature, *LifeHack*, fits that habit of backing emerging directors.

Corrigan gets a quick, funny hour out of four friends attempting to steal cryptocurrency without leaving their bedrooms. We grew impatient when the windows piled up and the pace stopped being a pleasure. At 97 minutes, the film keeps finding more windows to open after it has run short of things to do with them. Try *LifeHack* for Corrigan’s ingenuity, with patience for the clutter that follows.

## Biography

Timur Nuruakhitovich Bekmambetov is a Kazakh-Russian filmmaker, producer and screenwriter. He was born on 25 June 1961 in Guryev (now Atyrau), Kazakhstan. In 1999 he founded the production company Bazelevs.

Bekmambetov directed the fantasy films *Night Watch* (2004) and *Day Watch* (2006), the action thriller *Wanted* (2008) and the historical horror *Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter* (2012). He also directed *Ben-Hur* (2016) and *Mercy* (2026). As producer he has worked on screenlife films including *Unfriended* (2014), *Searching* (2018) and *LifeHack* (2026).

He is noted for developing the screenlife format used in several of his productions.

*Sources: en.wikipedia.org, imdb.com.*

## On Fi1m (3)

### Directed (1)

- *Wanted* (2008), Fi1m 68, Director — [page](https://film.one/film/wanted.md)

### Produced (2) — the average rests on these

- *LifeHack* (2026), Fi1m 67, Producer — [page](https://film.one/film/lifehack.md)
- *Missing* (2023), Fi1m 64, Executive Producer — [page](https://film.one/film/missing.md)

## Complete filmography (82)

Every credit, newest first. Titles without a page can be requested for review on the HTML page.

- *LifeHack* (2026), Producer — Fi1m 67, [page](https://film.one/film/lifehack.md)
- *Mercy* (2026), Director, Producer
- *War of the Worlds* (2025), Producer
- *Six Till Midnight* (2025), Producer
- *Bloat* (2025), Producer
- *CTRL* (2024), Executive Producer
- *#Blue_Whale* (2024), Producer
- *Long D* (2023), Producer
- *Resurrected* (2023), Producer
- *Missing* (2023), Executive Producer — Fi1m 64, [page](https://film.one/film/missing.md)
- *2000s* (2022), series, Actor
- *#FBF* (2022), Producer
- *V2. Escape from Hell* (2021), Director, Producer
- *R♥️J* (2021), Producer
- *Nineties* (2021), series, Actor
- *Like in Venice* (2020), Screenplay, Director
- *Locked Up* (2020), series, Producer
- *Persian Lessons* (2020), Producer
- *Gambler* (2020), Producer
- *Current Sea* (2020), Executive Producer
- *Heroic Deed* (2019), Producer
- *Dead Of Night* (2019), series, Producer
- *The Last Six Degrees of Celebration* (2018), Producer, Director
- *Alice AI* (2018), Producer
- *Searching* (2018), Producer
- *B-Day!* (2018), Production Director
- *Unfriended: Dark Web* (2018), Producer
- *Rezo* (2018), Producer
- *Tweet-Tweet* (2018), Producer
- *Profile* (2018), Producer, Director, Writer
- *The Current War* (2018), Producer
- *Unfollowed* (2018), Producer
- *Six Degrees of Celebration 6* (2017), General Manager
- *The Spacewalker* (2017), Producer
- *Six Degrees of Celebration 5* (2016), Producer, Director
- *Hacking Bloggers* (2016), Producer
- *Ben-Hur* (2016), Director
- *Before Love* (2016), Executive Producer
- *The Best Day Ever* (2015), Producer
- *I Am Dragon* (2015), Producer
- *Hardcore Henry* (2015), Producer
- *Double Trouble* (2015), Producer
- *Paws, Bones & Rock'n'roll* (2015), General Manager
- *Squirrels* (2014), Producer
- *Six Degrees of Celebration 1914* (2014), Director, Producer
- *Fool's Day* (2014), Producer
- *Bitterly! 2* (2014), Producer
- *Unfriended* (2014), Producer
- *Six Degrees of Celebration 3* (2013), Producer
- *Bitterly!* (2013), Producer
- *The Game of Truth* (2013), Producer
- *Gentlemen, Good Luck!‎* (2012), Producer
- *The Snow Queen* (2012), Producer
- *Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter* (2012), Producer, Director
- *The Darkest Hour* (2011), Producer
- *Kikoriki: Team Invincible* (2011), Producer
- *Six Degrees of Celebration 2* (2011), Producer, Writer
- *Apollo 18* (2011), Producer
- *Lucky Trouble* (2011), Producer
- *Six Degrees of Celebration* (2010), Director, Producer
- *Happy People: A Year in the Taiga* (2010), Executive Producer
- *Black Lightning* (2009), Producer
- *9* (2009), Producer
- *Wanted* (2008), Director — Fi1m 68, [page](https://film.one/film/wanted.md)
- *The Irony of Fate: Continuation* (2007), Director, Writer, Producer
- *The Gromovs* (2006), series, Producer
- *Day Watch* (2006), Writer, Director
- *Night Watch* (2004), Director, Writer
- *GAZ. Russian Cars* (2002), Director
- *The Arena* (2001), Director
- *Peshawar Waltz* (1994), Director, Writer
- *Before the Big Road to War* (1987), Production Design
- *Don't Get Up!*, Producer
- *Substitution*, Producer
- *Потерянный и возвращенный мир*, Producer, Director
- *Погребённый*, Director
- *Petersburg Carousel*, Director
- *Hodja Nasreddin*, Director, Screenplay
- *Blind Love*, Producer
- *Liked*, Producer
- *ANSWR*, Producer
- *Он - дракон 2*, Producer

## Gallery

- ![Timur Bekmambetov](https://film.one/media/person/94767/gallery-bd52b2afcb87.jpg) Timur Bekmambetov — Gage Skidmore, CC BY-SA 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons (https://thumb.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/3/3f/Timur_Bekmambetov_by_Gage_Skidmore.jpg/1280px-Timur_Bekmambetov_by_Gage_Skidmore.jpg?utm_source=commons.wikimedia.org&utm_campaign=imageinfo&utm_content=thumbnail)
- ![Timur Bekmambetov speaking at the 2012 WonderCon in Anaheim, California. Please attribute to Gage Skidmore if used elsewhere.](https://film.one/media/person/94767/gallery-6d74f8bb48ce.jpg) Timur Bekmambetov speaking at the 2012 WonderCon in Anaheim, California. Please attribute to Gage Skidmore if used elsewhere. — Gage Skidmore from Peoria, AZ, United States of America, CC BY-SA 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons (https://thumb.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/f/ff/Timur_Bekmambetov_%286998276717%29.jpg/1280px-Timur_Bekmambetov_%286998276717%29.jpg?utm_source=commons.wikimedia.org&utm_campaign=imageinfo&utm_content=thumbnail)
- ![Timur Bekmambetov at the press conference of Profile at Berlinale 2018.](https://film.one/media/person/94767/gallery-ce4a6b38e31e.jpg) Timur Bekmambetov at the press conference of Profile at Berlinale 2018. — Diana Ringo, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons (https://thumb.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/4/4c/Timur_Bekmambetov_-_Profile_-_Press_Conference.jpg/1280px-Timur_Bekmambetov_-_Profile_-_Press_Conference.jpg?utm_source=commons.wikimedia.org&utm_campaign=imageinfo&utm_content=thumbnail)
- ![Timur Bekmambetov, Iren Vanidovskaya (2012)](https://film.one/media/person/94767/gallery-225d6d0069c3.jpg) Timur Bekmambetov, Iren Vanidovskaya (2012) — K Zhestovskaya, CC BY-SA 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons (https://thumb.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/e/ee/%D0%A2%D0%B8%D0%BC%D1%83%D1%80_%D0%91%D0%B5%D0%BA%D0%BC%D0%B0%D0%BC%D0%B1%D0%B5%D1%82%D0%BE%D0%B2_%28cropped%29.JPG/1280px-%D0%A2%D0%B8%D0%BC%D1%83%D1%80_%D0%91%D0%B5%D0%BA%D0%BC%D0%B0%D0%BC%D0%B1%D0%B5%D1%82%D0%BE%D0%B2_%28cropped%29.JPG?utm_source=commons.wikimedia.org&utm_campaign=imageinfo&utm_content=thumbnail)
- ![Timur Bekmambetov](https://film.one/media/person/94767/gallery-16102e14430e.jpg) Timur Bekmambetov — Image via TMDB
- ![Timur Bekmambetov](https://film.one/media/person/94767/gallery-937223f77682.jpg) Timur Bekmambetov — Image via TMDB
- ![Timur Bekmambetov](https://film.one/media/person/94767/gallery-45f6f1e91cb8.jpg) Timur Bekmambetov — Image via TMDB
- ![Timur Bekmambetov speaking at the 2012 WonderCon in Anaheim, California. Please attribute to Gage Skidmore if used elsewhere.](https://film.one/media/person/94767/gallery-7d1ab557a7b6.jpg) Timur Bekmambetov speaking at the 2012 WonderCon in Anaheim, California. Please attribute to Gage Skidmore if used elsewhere. — Gage Skidmore from Peoria, AZ, United States of America, CC BY-SA 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons (https://thumb.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/9/94/Timur_Bekmambetov_%286852155728%29.jpg/1280px-Timur_Bekmambetov_%286852155728%29.jpg?utm_source=commons.wikimedia.org&utm_campaign=imageinfo&utm_content=thumbnail)
- ![Press conference of Profile by Timur Bekmambetov at Berlinale 2018. Shazad Latif, Timur Bekmambetov, Valene Kane.](https://film.one/media/person/94767/gallery-123030d82895.jpg) Press conference of Profile by Timur Bekmambetov at Berlinale 2018. Shazad Latif, Timur Bekmambetov, Valene Kane. — Diana Ringo, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons (https://thumb.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/b/bb/Profile_-_Press_Conference.jpg/1280px-Profile_-_Press_Conference.jpg?utm_source=commons.wikimedia.org&utm_campaign=imageinfo&utm_content=thumbnail)

## Awards

### Other awards — 1 won, 1 nominated

- Order of Friendship 2011: Order of Friendship (won)
- European Film Award - People's Choice Award for Best Director 2005: European Film Award - People's Choice Award for Best Director (nominated), for *Night Watch*

*From Wikidata, which records wins more completely than nominations.*

---
© Fi1m Ltd. Written by AI under a human editor; checked against sources before publication. Quote with attribution and a link to the canonical URL. Canonical: https://film.one/person/timur-bekmambetov