Connecting Georgia’s Talent with the Largest Film Industries in the World

Providing new career opportunities in Georgia’s creative industries

Twenty-five-year-old Mariam Dieser is one of the outstanding employees of the Georgian sound production studio, POSTRED. She was 20 when she was hired as a composer’s assistant, and has since played multiple roles in the company. Now Mariam is a dialogue editor and sound designer, which involves organizing, cleaning up, and improving the overall quality of recorded dialogue and other sounds in various creative ways, and mixing them to improve the sound so that it fits the scene as naturally as possible.

Additionally, Mariam has been instrumental in delivering sound design lectures at POSTRED Academy, an institution established with support from the USAID Industry-led Skills Development Program. According to Mariam, this effort has been one of the most enriching experiences in her life. “In this role, I cherish the opportunity to seamlessly blend technical skills with creative finesse, thereby teaching my students to give life to diverse characters, environments, and historical contexts through the power of sound,“ notes Mariam.

During her time at POSTRED, Mariam has lent her expertise to an array of films, series, and commercial videos. Some of these projects have not only achieved remarkable financial success, but have also garnered significant critical acclaim. Notable among them are Netflix’s American drama miniseries, “Painkiller,” as well as Netflix’s biographical crime drama miniseries, “Griselda,” co-produced by Sofía Vergara. Another feather in her cap is the acclaimed thriller film, “Extraction 2,” alongside other noteworthy contributions.

In 2022, under its Industry-led Skills Development Program, USAID partnered with POSTRED, which provides post-production for audio-visual and immersive media, and collaborates with giants of the film industry such as Paramount Pictures, HBO, Netflix, BBC, Hulu, Apple TV+, and others. To address the 70% increase in demand for the studio’s  services over the previous two years, Postred joined forces with the Program to create a training model that has resulted in the establishment of POSTRED Academy, which offers training courses in Sound Design and Music for Film to young people across Georgia.

In 2023, the Program expanded its partnership by supporting the launch of a new facility for POSTRED Academy, focusing on creating state-of-the-art spaces tailored to the unique needs of sound design training programs. With co-investment from USAID, the Academy will be renovated and equipped with special computer equipment needed for trainings in various innovative sound professions. These facilities will include modern classrooms, a sound recording studio, and post-production labs equipped with industry-standard tools and software, and will be used to deliver two new long-term modular courses in Sound Design for Visual Media and Music for Film, along with short-term courses in Sound Engineering, Pro Tools, Sound Editing, Foley, Dialogue Editing, Mixing, Music Theory, Orchestration, and other fields. These complex courses will provide, along with theoretical knowledge, hands-on experience in the newly upgraded, fully equipped facilities, thereby boosting Georgia’s human capacity in the creative industries.