The company

Bark Like A Cat Films is the production label of Cyprus-based director and producer Tonia Mishiali. It was established in 2020 with the aim to create daring films, by fellow filmmakers as well as Tonia’s own directing projects.

Tonia has been independently producing films since 2012. She is a member of the Hellenic Film Academy as well as the European Film Academy and Berlinale Talents alumna. Her work as both director and producer has been awarded the FIPRESCI Prize among others, and received rave reviews from the trades and other established media. PAUSE (2018), which was also her directorial debut, was listed as one of “20 most daring films of 2019” by Rotten Tomatoes and its screenplay is listed in the core collection of the Margaret Herrick Library of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences. Her films have been officially selected in numerous prestigious and A-list film festivals like Locarno, Karlovy Vary, Cairo, Clermont-Ferrand, Cinemed Montpellier, Pöff shorts, Santa Barbara, Palm Springs, Stockholm, Transilvania, Sofia and, Sydney at which she was selected in European Film Promotion’s "Europe! voices of women in film 2019" section, where films by Europe's ten most outstanding women directors were presented. Her projects have been selected for markets and workshops such as cocoPITCH, Karlovy Vary WIP, Midpoint and have been released theatrically in Europe, USA, Canada and Asia, while streaming on major platforms like HBO Europe and Amazon Prime.

Bark Like A Cat Films has so far produced two multi-awarded short films and is now developing several other short and feature films. It has received development funding from the MEDIA mini-slate program for three feature film projects and further development and production funding from the Cyprus Deputy Ministry of Culture for all of its projects currently in development. In particular: the short films, CYPRUS SOIL MAFIA (Torino Short Film Market 2021, Euroconnection 2023, winner of 2nd prize for best script at the 2021 Screenwriters Guild of Greece Awards) and PAINT ME A LIE (Balkan Short Punch, Euroconnection 2022), BOYS OF SUMMER (Midpoint Shorts 2020) - the feature films, SMARAGDA, I GOT THICK SKIN AND I CAN’T JUMP (First Films First 2019, TFL Extended 2019, cocoPITCH 2021, dot.on.the.map 2023), SHIBBOLETH (MFI 2023, First Films First 2022, Oxbelly 2022, dot.on.the.map 2024, Special Mention at IPDF, Best Pitch post-production award and Cannes Producer’s Network award at Agora Crossroads 2021), NALA AND STELLA (Agora Crossroads 2020), and MAYA (special mention at the Screenwriters Guild of Greece 2018 Awards, European Genre Forum 2023, Sources2 2018, MFI Script2Film 2020, TFL Next 2020, Meetings on the Bridge 2021 and post-production award by Focus Fox Hungary at Sofia meetings 2021). The company is also minority co-producer on two Greek films, THE WOMEN OF 1922 and SEA OF GLASS, the latter of which was supported by Eurimages.

Filmography (produced/co-produced by Bark Like A Cat Films & Tonia Mishiali)

Filmography (produced by Tonia Mishiali independently)