Portuguese-Swiss director Basil da Cunha divides his practice between Switzerland, where he was born, and Portugal, where he lives and makes his films. Somewhere between social realism and poetic imagination, his work focuses on characters who, through dreams or in fantasy, yearn for experiences beyond the realities they already know.

His films — which have been shown at the Cannes, Locarno and Rotterdam film festivals — are love letters to his neighbourhood, Reboleira, and respond to the pressing need for new perspectives on its resident community. Located in Lisbon, this area — and the systematic destruction, eviction and rehousing that mark it — have become central settings and themes in his films, which regularly feature non-professional actors and, more often than not, a dose of humour.

Batalha presents a retrospective of Basil da Cunha’s short and feature-length films, plus a brand new, specially-commissioned film-concert: a work that brings to life a new vision of Reboleira and which foregrounds another fundamental element in the director’s practice — music.