Annemarie Jacir, one of the most prominent names in the world of contemporary Arab film, has worked in independent cinema since 1998. She has written, directed and produced more than 20 films, and all three of her feature-length fiction films have been selected as Palestine’s candidate for the Oscars, while also winning prizes at leading film festivals.

Her career is marked by “firsts”, such as: Like Twenty Impossibles (2003), her graduation film at Columbia University, was the first Arab short film selected for Cannes film festival; Salt Of This Sea (2008) was the first feature-length fiction film directed by a Palestinian woman. Strongly committed to ensuring the history and current progress of Palestinian cinema is recognised, Jacir has developed work as a curator of film screenings, has participated in teaching initiatives, and is a co-founder of Philistine Films, a production company dedicated to work by emerging Arab writers.

Her work sits in a tradition of Palestinian cinema that takes on a double question: how to overcome the invisibility of the Palestinian worldview, and offer an alternative to the stereotyped representation to which Palestians are subjected by the mass media. Jacir is interested in contributing to a collective form of free-will using visual representation of the national imagination, doing so via stories percolating with dreams and hope, approached in an openly romantic fashion, and populated by individuals who are heroes in their own lives in occupied Palestine.

Batalha presents the first retrospective of Jacir’s work in Portugal, in a programme that includes all of her feature-length works and a selection of her short films.