Otar Pertakhia

Otar Pertakhia is a Georgian screenwriter and playwright. He is the author of numerous high-profile plays for theater, and scripts for shorts and feature films. Otar graduated with honors from the Shota Rustaveli Theatre and Film Georgia State University with a degree in screenwriting (Erlom Akhvlediani's workshop). His first play, In the Elevator, was produced by the renowned Georgian actress Sofiko Chiaureli, and it was staged in 2004, in Tbilisi's famous one actor theater, Veriko (founded by Kote Makharadze, a Georgian actor and sports commentator). In 2013, In the Elevator was named as a festival discovery at the International Festival of Playwrights' Restoration of the Present, and it received a positive response from the critics. In 2014, the Azerbaijani feature film, Down the River, based on Otar's screenplay, was directed by filmmaker Asif Rustamov. The world premiere took place in the competition section of the 49th Karlovy Vary International Film Festival East of the West. The film has received numerous international awards, including the SEE fest Award for Best Film in the southeast European Film Festival in Los Angeles (the festival is sponsored by the American Film Academy); LET'S CEE Jury Special Award of the Vienna International Film Festival; The National Prize Guild of Professional Cinematographers and The Producers of Azerbaijan. Since 2018, Otar Pertakhia has been living in New York City. In 2020, he won the Georgian Film Studio competition for the best film idea for international film projects. The jury selected his project among 54 participants of the competition. In 2023, the first Georgian-Turkish, large-scale feature film, written by Otar Pertakhia, directed by Erekle Badurashvili, and produced by Georgian Film has been released on the big screen.