Editor

Hadžihalilović 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),^[4][8] after which she edited Alain Bourges' 1991 documentary Horizons artificiels (Trois rêves d'architecture),^[4] which has been described as "three confrontations between the discourse on architecture and the architecture of speech."^[9] Soon after, she had begun her collaboration with Gaspar Noé and worked on his 1991 short Carne.^[10] In 1994, she worked on the short La Baigneuse by Joel Leberre.^[4] Hadžihalilović then both produced and edited Noe's feature-length sequel to Carne, 1998's I Stand Alone.^[4]

Director

Hadžihalilović's first short feature after her graduating film was La Bouche de Jean-Pierre (1996). It is told through the eyes of a young girl, Mimi (Sandra Sammartino), whose mother had attempted suicide. Mimi is then relocated to live with her aunt (Denise Aron-Schropfer) and a man named Jean-Pierre (Michel Trillot). The film features child abuse, and ends with Mimi taking sleeping pills in an effort to copy her mother.^[5]

In 1998, Hadžihalilović made Good Boys Use Condoms, one of a series of erotic short films promoting condom use.^[11] Another in the series, Sodomites, was made by Noé.^[12] 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.^[5] The film follows three young girls who attend a secluded mysterious boarding school and their interactions with their teachers (Cotillard and Fougerolles).^[5] She has commented on the film's similarity or references to Peter Weir's Picnic at Hanging Rock (1975), Dario Argento's Suspiria (1977), and Victor Erice's The Spirit of the Beehive (1973).^[13]

Hadžihalilović released a short entitled Nectar in 2014,^[14] and the feature film Evolution in 2015.^[15] Evolution revolves around young boys who are subjected to mysterious treatments and live on an island inhabited solely by women and themselves.^[16]

In 2021, Hadžihalilović released her first English-language feature, Earwig, about a girl whose teeth are made of ice, which won Special Jury Prize at San Sebastian Film Festival.^[17]

In June 2023, it was announced that Hadzihalilovic's next film will be La Tour de glace, starring Marion Cotillard, their second collaboration after Innocence (2004).^[18]