The Stranger
Program of Concerts, Conferences, Exhibitions, and Performances 2025
20th Mar ar 18:30
Marco Martins e Beatriz Batarda
Arena
Conference
Auditório Ilídio Pinho
On March 20, at 6:30 PM, filmmaker Marco Martins and actress Beatriz Batarda come together for Arena, a conversation about cinema, theater, and the challenges of artistic creation.
The discussion will focus on their collaborative works, including Marco Martins' latest film, Great Yarmouth: Provisional Figures, in which Beatriz Batarda plays the lead role.
O Estrangeiro
The 2025 annual program of concerts, conferences, exhibitions, and performances, organized by the Escola das Artes and CITAR, aims to explore the theme of The Stranger. The program is curated by Djaimilia Pereira de Almeida, Daniel Ribas, José Alberto Gomes, and Nuno Crespo.
Marco Martins (b. 1972) studied at the Escola Superior de Teatro e Cinema before completing his training in screenwriting at the Tisch School of Arts in the United States. In 1999, he co-founded Ministério dos Filmes, an award-winning advertising production company, and later made his television fiction debut with SARA, an eight-episode series that premiered in October 2018 on RTP2. The first two episodes were initially screened at the IndieLisboa 2018 festival.
His work spans cinema, visual arts, and theater. His films have been featured at major international festivals, winning the Prix Regard Jeune at the Cannes Directors' Fortnight in 2005 for Alice. He has also received accolades at festivals such as Mar del Plata, Rotterdam, and the London Raindance Film Festival, as well as the Fassbinder Award (European Discovery of the Year). In 2006, he directed the short film Um Ano Mais Longo, co-written with Tonino Guerra, which was part of the Official Competition at the Venice Film Festival.
São Jorge competed at the Venice Film Festival, where actor Nuno Lopes won the Horizons Award. Like Alice, the film was pre-selected for the Academy Award for Best Foreign Language Film and nominated for the Goya Awards. In Portugal, São Jorge won several awards from the Sociedade Portuguesa de Autores, including Best Portuguese Film of 2017, and received seven Sophia Awards from the Portuguese Film Academy. His most recent film is Great Yarmouth: Provisional Figures (2022).
In the field of visual arts, Martins has collaborated with various artists, notably co-directing the multi-channel video installation Twenty One - The Day the World Didn’t End with Italian artist Michelangelo Pistoletto. This work was exhibited at the Louvre Museum as part of the Year One - Earthly Paradise retrospective. He also co-directed the film Insert with Portuguese artist Filipa César, which won the BES Arte e Finança Award and the Best Director Award at IndieLisboa (2011).
In theater, Martins founded the Arena Ensemble company in 2007 with Beatriz Batarda. Since then, the company has staged regular performances in major theaters across Portugal. His stage work balances classical text-based productions with a strong choreographic component and community-driven projects, such as Provisional Figures Great Yarmouth, which recently premiered at the Norwich & Norfolk Festival.
Beatriz Batarda (b. 1974, London) is a Portuguese actress who 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), a feature film by João Botelho, followed by roles in Vale Abraão (1993) and A Caixa (1994) by Manoel de Oliveira, and Elas (1997) by Luís Galvão Teles.
In 1998, Batarda was selected for Shooting Stars, a European Film Promotion program highlighting emerging European cinema talents. Her extensive 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, and Duas Mulheres (2009) by João Mário Grilo.
In theater, Batarda co-founded Arena Ensemble in 2007 with Marco Martins. Since then, the company has regularly staged productions in major theaters across Portugal, solidifying her presence as a key figure in both Portuguese cinema and performing arts.
