Hackerman

Hackerman
Theatrical release poster
Directed by	Walo Monolo
Written by	Mahano'na Alo, Mo'o Kolo'ko
Produced by	Mahano'na Alo
Starring	Jason Hemme Makano Ololo Ponoko Hasaka Colomo Honano
Release dates	12 March 2004 (2004-03-12)
Running time	91 minutes, 14 seconds
Countries	Garetolia Australia United Kingdom United States Canada
Languages	English Garetolian
Budget	KT$87 million
Box office	KT$129 million

Hackerman (stylised as "HACK3RM4N") is a Garetolian sci-fi thriller film, released in 2004. It was directed by Walo Monolo and produced by Mahano'na Alo. The film premiered in theatres on 12 March 2004, and was included in the 2004 Garetolia Film Festival, where it won a retroactive award for Best Drama in 2018, the first and only such award. Along with this, it also won the Cyan Star Award for 2004.

Plot

In the year 2104, technology has advanced rapidly since the present day. All humans have a microchip in their brain, which acts as a virtual encyclopedia. However, a fatal design flaw in the chips' security systems mean that these chips can easily be hacked, or 'neurostruck', turning the victim into a digital puppet of the assailant.. During an international summit, the Deputy Prime Minister (Colomo Hanano) is neurostruck and assassinates the Prime Minister during his speech. The police, in order to find the origin of the neurostrike, turn to the only remaining 'unlinked' human, Byron Hinsch (Jason Hemme). Hinsch is a cyber genius, yet has a short temper, a testimony to his drug addiction. When the police ask him to help, Hinsch is initially opposed to the idea, but he finally, albeit reluctantly, agrees. Hinsch is able to trace back the origin of the neurostrike to likely a residential network in eastern Ule'eka, but the security system is so advanced that it would be impossible to precisely locate the address. With this, the police find that the attacker is likely a former political opponent of the Prime Minister, an AltKat patron known as Maso Tokolo (Makano Ololo).

Tokolo was a noted extremist and profound critic of the former Prime Minister's regime, descirbed by fellow AltKat members as "blunt, yet charismatic." Tokolo claims ignorance when the police interrogate him, and further evidence shows he was not at home during the neurostrike, which leaves the police baffled.