Tonia Mishiali Nicosia, Cyprus

Tonia is a Cypriot director, screenwriter and producer who loves making films that deal with social and women's issues. She is a member of the European Film Academy and the European Women's Audiovisual Network, Berlinale Talents alumna and co-artistic director of Cyprus Film Days International Festival, having also served as vice president of the Directors Guild of Cyprus board.

Her short films DEAD END (2013) and LULLABY OF THE BUTTERFLY (2014) competed in more than 60 international film festivals together, including Locarno, Palm Springs, Cork, Dresden, Sarajevo, Encounters, Curta Cinema, Drama, and won several awards for Best Director and Best Film. DEAD END is represented by SND Films (Amsterdam) and has been sold to Japan, China, USA, Belgium, Russia, France, Greece and Cyprus. Her feature directorial debut PAUSE (2018), a Cyprus/Greece co-production, represented by Film Republic (UK), participated in Connecting Cottbus and Mannheim Meeting Place Co-Production markets in 2015 and in the Karlovy Vary Works-in-Progress in 2017. It has been officially selected in more than 60 international film festivals, including the FIAPF accredited 'A' list Karlovy Vary, Cairo, Stockholm, Sofia, Kitzbuhel, Sydney and Transilvania. The film was selected in the European Film Promotion program "Europe! voices of women in film" at the Sydney Film Festival 2019", where ten films by Europe's most outstanding women directors were presented. It was also selected by Rotten Tomatoes as one of "20 most daring films of 2019. PAUSE has received nine awards including the FIPRESCI Prize for Best film by the International Federation of Film Critics at the Thessaloniki International Film Festival and it was also nominated for Best First-time Director and Best Actress at the Hellenic Film Academy Iris Awards 2019. It is being released theatrically in the US, Germany, Austria, Switzerland, Greece and Cyprus in 2019.

Tonia is now developing her second and third feature films, NALA AND STELLA and MOONSTRUCK of which won a special mention at the Scriptwriters Guild of Greece 2018 awards and was developed through Sources2 scriptwriting workshop with funding from the Cyprus Ministry of Education and Culture.

FILMOGRAPHY

“Nala and Stella” | feature | drama | (in development)

“Moonstruck” | feature | drama/fantasy | (in development)

“Pause” (2018) | 96min | Cyprus/Greece | drama

“Lullaby of the Butterfly” (2014) | 20min | Cyprus | drama

“Dead End” (2013) | 15min | Cyprus | drama