Draft:Cats of Malta

Cats of Malta is a 2023 documentary film from Malta. It is directed by Sarah Jayne Portelli and produced by Sarah Jayne Portelli and Ivan Malekin. Cats of Malta is an award winning, family-friendly documentary giving a voice to the island’s stray cats.

Plot
Through candid interviews with charismatic local feeders, artists and volunteers, Cats of Malta takes audiences on a journey through the colourful cat colonies, cat cafes, cat parks and streets that define the island.

But Cats of Malta is not just a film about cats, it’s a film about the power of community and the strength found within the human-cat connection.

Each interview reveals a little more about the place of stray cats in Malta, giving insight into the inner workings of Malta’s cat community, their highs and lows, the mental health benefits cats provide locals and tourists, and how cats unite the island.

These heartfelt stories are sometimes funny, sometimes poignant, sometimes educational. But each story will make audiences feel a rainbow of emotions and fall in love with the cats that are the heart of the island.

Production
Principal photography on Cats of Malta began in March 2020, during the early stages of the COVID-19 pandemic, at Independence Garden, located in Sliema, Malta. Within these early stages the tiny crew consisted of two people – director and producer Sarah Jayne Portelli and editor, producer and cinematographer Ivan Malekin of Maltese film production company Nexus Production Group Ltd.

Cats of Malta was one of the first feature films to begin principle photography and production in Malta during the COVID-19 pandemic outbreak.

Principal photography on the film was completed in June 2020. Additional footage and pick-ups were filmed during the editing process throughout 2020 and early 2021.

Film Festivals
The world premiere of Cats of Malta took place at The Melbourne Documentary Film Festival, Melbourne, Australia on Monday July, 25th 2022 at Federation Square. Cats of Malta had its US premiere at the 13th Chagrin Falls Documentary Film Festival, Chagrin Falls, Ohio, on October 8th 2022. The free film screening was held outdoors at Riverside Park, Chagrin Falls, and was opened by the Mayor Bill Koons, and preceded by a Felines on Parade event where the public attended with their cats. Also in attendance were Rescue Village, a humane society in Geauga County, Ohio, that focuses its effort on the Cleveland area's eastern communities.

Release
The film was released on digital streaming platforms on September 21st, 2023 in Malta and Spanish-speaking Latin American territories, September 25th, 2023 in the UK and Ireland, and on October 11th, 2023 in France, Belgium, Luxembourg and Switzerland by Under The Milky Way. On the 3rd of October 2023, Cats of Malta was released in the US and Canada by Lion Heart Distribution on various digital streaming platforms.

Reception
Critical reception for Cats of Malta has been favorable and the film has a rating of 100% on review aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes, based on 8 reviews with an average rating of 7.10 out of 10 Rating.

Leslie Felperin of The Guardian gave the movie a rating of 3/5, noting that the film's "tone and purpose are a little hazy at times, making this not as satisfying as spending a good hour browsing cat memes, but it is still soft, fuzzy and purr-inducing”. John Noonan from FilmInk and Michael Talbot-Haynes from Film Threat both wrote favorably of the film, with Noonan writing "Endearing and heart-warming, Cats of Malta avoids being simply an extended YouTube video of cats frolicking by highlighting how members of the community are brought together.” Eddie Harrison of Film-Authority.com was also favorable.