Despite being a prolific director, actor and screenwriter – sometimes all at once – Mai Zetterling remains inexplicably underappreciated to this day.

She distinguished herself on the big screen in her teens, appearing in the Swedish film Torment (1944) directed by Alf Sjöberg and written by a young Ingmar Bergman. This would be the first of a number of box office hits in which she took a leading role – in her birth country of Sweden, in the UK and in Hollywood. However, it was when she moved to the other side of the camera, in the 60s, that Zetterling really left her mark on cinematic history, directing daring and transgressive films whose themes and mood are still relevant today.

Blurring the lines between reality and dreams, memory and fantasy, her films revolve around characters searching for their place in the world and confronting the gender roles imposed on them. This confrontation was exemplified by Zetterling herself, whose life and career saw her speak openly on — and make films about — sexuality, eroticism, marriage, reproductive rights and independence.

Nominated for the Palme d’Or at the Cannes film festival, her debut feature film, Loving Couples (1964), generated controversy for its depictions of nudity and homosexuality. History would repeat itself with Night Games (1966) and The Girls (1968) — the latter described as a masterpiece by Susan Sontag and Simone de Beauvoir. Alongside her involvement in the feminist movement, Zetterling continued to direct fiction and non-fiction cinema and television until the 80s, also working as an actor until the end of her life.

Batalha presents the first retrospective in Portugal dedicated to the multifaceted filmmaker, with films she directed or starred in.