The Foreigner| Marco Martins e Beatriz Batarda

The Foreigner – 2025 Programme of Concerts, Conferences, Exhibitions, and Performances is organized
by the School of Arts and the Research Center for Science and Technology of the Arts (CITAR), and the conference Arena will take place on March 20th at 6:30 PM, featuring Marco Martins e Beatriz Batarda.

This programme explores the theme of the "Estrangeiro" (The Foreigner) and is curated by Djaimilia Pereira de Almeida, Daniel Ribas, José Alberto Gomes, and Nuno Crespo.

Synopsis

Filmmaker Marco Martins and actress Beatriz Batarda come together for Arena, a conversation about cinema, theatre, and the challenges of artistic creation. The discussion will focus on their collaborations, including Marco Martins’ latest film, Great Yarmouth: Provisional Figures, in which Beatriz Batarda plays the lead role.

These two special sessions will take place at the Ilídio Pinho Auditorium, School of Arts

Biographies

Marco Martins (b. 1972)

Marco Martins studied at the Lisbon Theatre and Film School and later pursued screenwriting studies at NYU's Tisch School of the Arts. In 1999, he co-founded Ministério dos Filmes, a production company recognized with multiple national and international awards. His transition to television fiction came with SARA, an eight-episode series that premiered on RTP2 in October 2018, with its first two episodes showcased at IndieLisboa 2018.

Martins’ work spans film, visual arts, and theatre. His films have been featured at major international festivals, including the Directors’ Fortnight at the Cannes Film Festival, where he won the Prix Regard Jeune for Alice (2005). His films have also received awards at Mar del Plata, Rotterdam, and the London Raindance Film Festival, among others. In 2006, he directed the short film Um Ano Mais Longo, co-written with Tonino Guerra, which premiered in competition at the Venice Film Festival.

His most recent film, São Jorge, competed at Venice, where actor Nuno Lopes won the Horizons Award (Leão de Ouro) for Best Actor. The film was commercially released in several countries and, like Alice, was shortlisted for the Academy Award for Best International Feature and the Goya Awards. In Portugal, São Jorge won multiple awards from the Portuguese Society of Authors, including Best Portuguese Film of 2017, and received seven Sophia Awardsfrom the Portuguese Academy of Cinema.

In the field of visual arts, Martins has collaborated with several artists, notably co-directing the multi-channel video installation Twenty One – The Day the World Didn’t End with Michelangelo Pistoletto, exhibited at the Louvre Museum as part of the Year One – Earthly Paradise retrospective. He also co-directed the film Insert with Filipa César, which won the BES Arte e Finança Award and Best Director at IndieLisboa 2011.

In theatre, he co-founded the Arena Ensemble with Beatriz Batarda in 2007, producing regular performances in Portugal’s leading theatres. His work ranges from classic text-based productions with strong choreographic elementsto community-based projects, such as his latest work, Provisional Figures: Great Yarmouth, which recently premiered at the Norwich & Norfolk Festival.

Beatriz Batarda (b. 1974, London)

Born in London but of Portuguese nationality, Beatriz Batarda grew up in Lisbon, where she attended the Lycée Français Charles Lepierre and studied Design at IADE. She made her film debut in Tempos Difíceis (1988), directed by João Botelho, and went on to work in films such as Manoel de Oliveira’s Vale Abraão (1993) and A Caixa (1994), as well as Elas (1997) by Luís Galvão Teles.

In 1998, she was selected for the Shooting Stars programme by the European Film Promotion, an initiative that highlights emerging European cinema talents.

Her filmography includes: Quaresma (2003) by José Álvaro Morais, A Costa dos Murmúrios (2004) by Margarida Cardoso, Alice (2005) and São Jorge (2016) by Marco Martins, Duas Mulheres (2009) by João Mário Grilo.

In theatre, she co-founded the Arena Ensemble with Marco Martins in 2007. Since then, the company has staged numerous productions in Portugal’s most prominent theatres.