1986–1998: Early work Hadzihalilovic worked as an editor for a number of films before beginning her own projects. The first film she worked on was Sylvain Ledey's short
Festin (1986), after which she edited Alain Bourges' 1991 documentary ''Horizons artificiels (Trois rêves d'architecture)'', In the early 1990s, she began to collaborate with the Argentine filmmaker
Gaspar Noé. Hadzihalilovic's first film after her graduation,
La Bouche de Jean-Pierre (1996), was a result of this collaborative effort. Hadzihalilovic wrote, edited, produced, and directed the film while Noé worked as the cinematographer.
La Bouche de Jean-Pierre was shown during the
Un Certain Regard panel at the
Cannes Film Festival, as well as being selected for various other notable festivals throughout the world. Another in the series,
Sodomites, was made by Noé.
2004–2015: Innocence and acclaim In 2004, she released the critically acclaimed film
Innocence, starring
Marion Cotillard and
Hélène de Fougerolles. The film was inspired by the 1903 novella
Mine-Haha, or On the Bodily Education of Young Girls by German playwright
Frank Wedekind. Hadzihalilovic released a short entitled
Nectar in 2014, and the feature film
Evolution in 2015.
Evolution revolves around young boys who are subjected to mysterious treatments and live on an island inhabited solely by women and themselves. Hadzihalilovic also contributed to the screenplay of Noé's critically divisive
Enter the Void (2009), and continued as a producer of
Lux Æterna (2019) and
Vortex (2021). Hadzihalilovic's next film
The Ice Tower was released in 2025, starring
Marion Cotillard, on their second collaboration after
Innocence (2004).
The Ice Tower had its world premiere at the
75th Berlin International Film Festival in official competition on 16 February 2025. On 18 February 2025, Yellow Veil Pictures acquired North American distribution rights to the film and released it theatrically in the United States on 3 October 2025. The film was released theatrically in France by
Metropolitan Filmexport on 17 September 2025. Hadzihalilovic is a member of the French gender equality group , which aims to promote equality between women and men and diversity in cinema and audiovisual. == Favourite films ==