A significant figure in contemporary Italian cinema since her debut feature film, Corpo celeste (2011), was chosen for the Directors’ Fortnight at Cannes, Alice Rohrwacher became known for her work, often centred on her childhood and adolescence, exploring tradition, navigating between history and myth, rural and modern.

An admirer of Buñuel and Rossellini, her films sit at the border between neorealism and magic realism, peopled by characters who are victims of cynicism and mundane cruelty, and who find refuge in imagination, dreams and tradition. Helping her build these oneiric, almost mythological worlds are a range of regular collaborators including director of photography Helène Louvart, art director Emita Frigato, costume designer Loredana Buscemi and the filmmaker’s sister, Alba Rohrwacher, described by the New York Times as “one of the greatest actors of her generation”.

With a career spanning just over a decade, Rohrwacher has woven together a filmography that resonates with both critics and the public, receiving several awards from the industry, including the Grand Prix (Le meraviglie), Best Screenplay (Lazzaro felice) and two nominations for the Palme D’Or (Lazzaro felice and La chimera) at Cannes, and a nomination for the Oscar for Best Live Action Short Film (Le pupille).

At Batalha, we present a retrospective of her work, made up of all her features and a selection of shorts — fiction, hybrid and documentary films.

Programme in partnership with Porto/Post/Doc