Film director Ioseb Bliadze has picked up two more international awards for his short Three Steps after two German film festivals honoured the filmmaker last weekend.
Bliadze’s work about a girl coming of age in a difficult environment was named Best International Short Film at the exground filmfest held in Wiesbaden.
The Georgian-German co-production also received the Special Mention of the German Competition at the Berlin International Short Film Festival.
The two festivals concluded on Sunday, with juries of the Wiesbaden-based festival revealing they were "impressed by the realism of the pictures and the great acting performances” in Bliadze’s work.
The double success follows the film’s recognition at the Open Place International Short Film Festival in Latvia earlier this year, where it was distinguished with the Best Script award.
The plot of the 19-minute film is centred around a father and daughter living in a poverty-stricken community in an outskirt of Georgia’s capital Tbilisi.
Dealing with harsh social and economic reality, the two sometimes resort to stealing, with the young Mariam also having to face the experience of becoming a woman.
Written by Bliadze alongside Giga Liklikadze and Elmar Imanov, the plot also sees the young protagonist in doubt about how much she can trust her father in the daily struggle for survival.
The film is the second short work by Bliadze and premiered at the International Film Festival Rotterdam in the Netherlands in January this year.
Three Steps is next set be screened as part of the Georgian Panorama section at the Tbilisi International Film Festival next week.