Crak Hack

Brendan Cleaves

Brendan Cleaves is a UK-based writer-director crafting genre-bending stories where the ordinary slips into the surreal. After starting out filming Camden’s music scene, he moved into writing, directing and composing his own work, earning a UK Music Video Award nomination early on. His short ROGER, starring John Bradley (Game of Thrones) and Seann Walsh, cemented his offbeat, character-driven voice. His films, including multiple shorts and a documentary, have screened at over 150 international festivals, including BAFTA and Academy-qualifying events, with several Méliès d’Argent nominations. He now works largely in dark sci-fi and horror-comedy, exploring flawed people, misbehaving technology, and the uneasy space between funny and disturbing. He is a member of BAFTA and Directors UK.

Director Statement

The spark for Crak Hack came from a junk email. One of those absurd warnings: “We’ve been spying on you.” It’s funny at first, then it gets under your skin. What if someone really did hijack your devices? What if your most private moments became public?
The film became a satire of modern fear: losing control of our privacy, our devices, and ourselves. The humour cuts through the dread, technology as a weapon, shame as leverage, and the question of whether we can laugh at the things that terrify us.
The threats are real. Sextortion scams, spyware, and connected devices that can be hijacked without consent. These aren’t hypotheticals – they’re happening now. Crak Hack is a warning, but it’s also a release valve. Sometimes the only way to survive the panic is to laugh at it. Oh, and please watch until the end, there is a fun post credit scene that I’d hate for you to miss.