This film is part of Rentals

Lost in Karastan
In this smart filmmaking satire, Matthew Macfadyen plays as a hard-up British director who accepts a commission to make a film for a Central Asian dictator.
Director: Ben Hopkins
Overview
The long-awaited new film from cult British director Ben Hopkins (Simon Magus, The Nine Lives of Thomas Katz) stars Matthew Macfadyen (Anna Karenina) as a hard-up British film director who accepts a commission from a Central Asian dictator to make an epic film about his country.
Co-written by Oscar-winning director of Ida, Pawel Pawlikowski, and also featuring Noah Taylor (Game of Thrones) as the drunken local star enlisted to boost the production, Lost in Karastan is a subtle satire of the perils of exotic filmmaking and a sly commentary on the Westβs relationship with oil-rich Central Asian Republics.
Already a hit in Europe, Lost in Karastan received two awards at the Hamburg Film Festival in 2014 and was the opening film of the 2015 LOCO Film Festival at BFI Southbank.
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