Rati Tsiteladze was born in post-Soviet Georgia. At age 21, he won the title of World Champion in martial arts, but in 2014, when filmmaking became the overpowering passion in his life, he left his fighting career and founded ArtWay Film production company. Rati directed and produced several short films that were awarded internationally and have been screened at around 300 film festivals, including Melbourne, Tampere, Guanajuato, Locarno. His recent work PRISONER OF SOCIETY (2018) is the first Georgian short documentary, nominated for the European Film Academy Award. With his feature film project, THE EMPTY HOUSE won the Eurimages Award for Best project at TIFF, the Special Mention Prize at Locarno Festival and was selected at Berlinale Co-Production Market and among 6 directors at Cannes Cinéfondation Residence.