Late Georgian actor wins top prize in US film festival

The Diabolique International Film Festival in the United States (US) has awarded the Best Actor prize to the late Georgian actor Kote Tolordava, who passed away in April this year.

The Festival jury awarded Tolordava, 35, the prize for his part in the drama Landmine Goes Click by Georgian director Levan Bakhia and writer Adrian Colussi.

The film plot follows three American tourists as they go hiking in Georgia, unaware of the horror they soon find themselves in as one of the group steps on an abandoned landmine, and a local man takes advantage of the situation and assaults his girlfriend.

The film screened in the Festival on September 26 in Bloomington, Indiana. The three-day event concluded on September 27 when judges announced the results of the participating productions.

Tolordava was known for his roles in various productions in Tbilisi theatres including the Marjanishvili Theatre. He also featured in a number of cinema productions and a popular Georgian TV series My Wife’s Friends.

The actor was found dead on April 11, 2015 in his hotel room in Moscow, Russia, where he was participating in filming. The official forensic report cited myocardial infarction (heart attack) as the cause of death.