Otar Shamatava was born on August 6, 1950 in Tbilisi. In 1967–1972, he studied at Tbilisi Art Academy; in 1985–1990, at Georgia Film Academy. In 1999–2000, he worked at the Georgian Public Broadcasting (GPB) as an author and director of the program Before Nighttime. From 2002 onward he has been a general producer at the TV company Imedi. In 2004, he became a member of the International Academy of Television (Emmy).