Award-winning new drama filmed in Georgia

Georgia's capital Tbilisi and mining town Chiatura feature heavily in a new Australian drama that has already won an international award at a top film festival despite being released only this year.

The film Partisan, featuring celebrated French actor Vincent Cassel, was filmed in the two Georgian locations as well as in director Ariel Kleiman’s hometown Australia last year before it was released in British cinemas on January 8, 2016.

The film’s interior scenes were shot in Australia's south-eastern state of Victoria while the exterior scenes were filmed in several districts of Georgia’s capital Tbilisi with its Soviet-era grey apartment blocks and the decrepit grim settings of western Georgia's mining town Chiatura.

A scene from Partisan showing child actor Jeremy Chabriel filmed in Chiatura mining town in western Georgia. Photo from the Sundance International Film Festival.

Partisan is about a young boy raised in a secretive commune in a fictional setting without a definitive timescale or location.

Its plot follows Alexander, an 11-year-old boy played by young actor Jeremy Chabriel, as he develops an independent character that puts him on a collision course with the commune's leader Gregori, portrayed by Cassel.

The new film has already collected the Cinematography Award at the 2015 Sundance International Film Festival in the United States (US).

Filmmaker Kleiman has won accolades for one of his earlier films. He won awards for his 2010 short film Deeper Than Yesterday at a number of prestigious cinema festivals, including the Cannes International Film Festival.

See the trailer for the feature film Partisan below: