Profile

To investigate how ISIS recruits women, a journalist creates a Facebook persona posing as a Western convert. She follows the trail of messages and chats, letting her on screen identity blur with the online conversations. When a recruiter notices Amy Whittaker's profile, the cat and mouse game accelerates as the online disguise pulls her into dangerous exchanges. The story keeps the focus on real time chats, screenshots, and the pressure of staying inside a character long enough to learn the methods behind the recruitment. As the online contact deepens, personal risk, ethical lines, and the strain on the journalist's life come under intense scrutiny. Her coverage risks becoming entangled with the very network she studies, raising questions about responsibility and method.

Released in 2018, Profile is directed by Timur Bekmambetov with a screenplay by Anna Érelle, Britt Poulton and Olga Kharina, adapted from Anna Érelle's investigative reporting on ISIS recruitment that revealed online tactics, with editing and energy for global audiences.

Worldwide box office totaled about $1,763,278, reflecting a modest release yet reaching audiences curious about online risk and the real world consequences of digital deception, with attention from festival circuits and streaming platforms around the globe, across selective theaters worldwide.

Critics noted the film's tense, claustrophobic feel built from a single point of view, underscoring how easily people are manipulated through social networks. The story probes identity and accountability while examining the ethical weight of reporting on dangerous online subcultures, and Kane's restrained performance underlines its intent for viewers.

Its screenlife presentation, showing chats and video calls as the sole conduit for suspense, sparked discussion about digital ethics and how cinema portrays online danger. The technique has become a talking point in genre circles, illustrating how a thriller can be sustained through a computer screen in academic discussions worldwide.