Sci-Fi Thriller ‘Overstake’ Gets Generative AI Rebuild, Boarded by Cappu Films at Busan Market (EXCLUSIVE)

Hong Kong’s Cappu Films has signed on as worldwide sales agent for “Overstake,” a sci-fi action thriller from writer-director Stas Mareev that pairs a live-action shoot with settings being rebuilt through generative AI.

The sales company is introducing the title to buyers at the Busan International Film Festival’s Asian Contents & Film Market.

In the film, a wounded veteran joins a deadly betting game for a life-changing payout: he has two hours to cross an industrial city and keep his ex-wife alive, while strangers get offers on their phones to save him or stop him in his tracks. The game’s organizers turn the pair’s fight for survival into a show. The cast includes Konstantin Adaev, Vika Tokareva, Oleg Chernov, Konstantin Sidikhin, Denis Starkov and Sergey Russkin.

“‘Overstake’ is a chance to return to a film I already directed and rebuild its world at a scale that was impossible for us before,” Mareev said. “The performances and story remain the foundation, while generative AI allows me to rethink the environments, action and visual language without losing the human core of the film.”

“We’ve handled international sales for many films in this genre, and sci-fi and action are particular strengths for Cappu,” said Janice Woo of Cappu Films. “We were impressed by Stas’s promo and look forward to introducing the film to our distribution partners in Busan.”

The AI work is still in progress, so buyers in Busan will see a promo along with a handful of finished sequences.

Cappu’s Busan lineup also features “Banr”; “Fox Hunt”; “Ephemera,” Shan Jiang’s Tribeca title; WWII spy series “Operation Doolittle,” told across nine episodes; martial arts film “Lion Fist”; Joy Hopwood’s dramedy “Her Last Laugh,” from Australia; and “Zombie Plane,” an action comedy toplined by Vanilla Ice, Sophie Monk and Chuck Norris.