Toronto film fest to premiere George Sikharulidze’s new short

The upcoming Toronto International Film Festival will host the international premiere of young filmmaker George Sikharulidze’s newest work A New Year, it has been revealed as organisers begin to announce their programme for the event.

Sikharulidze’s short will screen at the highly regarded event to once again represent the director known to the festival’s viewers.

When a man decides to follow his faith, his family faces a crisis at a time of year usually filled with hope.

Sensitively wrought and exquisitely performed, George Sikharulidze's drama reveals the impact of a choice that will change many lives”, says the festival’s preview for the screening.

The drama follows the young filmmaker’s short Red Apples, which also debuted at the Toronto cinema event in 2016.

Born in Tbilisi, Sikharulidze moved to the United States at the age of 18 to study at the New York University. Graduating with a degree in Media Studies, he also studied his Master's in Film Direction at the Columbia University.

He returned to Georgia in 2014 to direct his first short film The Fish that Drowned, which screened at the Clermont-Ferrand Film Festival and the Palm Springs International Film Festival in the US.

Filmmaker George Sikharulidze has studied and taught in the US. Photo from Red Apples film page/Facebook.

Red Apples, Sikharulidze’s second short project, received the Katharina Otto-Bernstein Grant for development.

The Georgian creative also worked as editor of the short Submarine, which was selected for the 69th Cannes Film Festival.

Beside directing his projects, Sikharulidze has also taught filmmaking at the Northwestern University and the Columbia University, and was nominated for the US Presidential Award for Outstanding Teaching.

This year’s Toronto International Film Festival will run between September 6-16.