Trained as an actor, Cristèle Alves Meira began her career as a theatre director. She directed two documentaries—Som & Morabeza (2008) in Cape Verde, and Born in Luanda (2010) in Angola—before tackling short fiction films in Portugal: Sol Branco (2015); Campo de Víboras (2016), which was selected for the Semaine de la Critique at the Festival de Cannes; Invisível Herói (2019) and Tchau-Tchau (2021). She makes her feature-length directorial debut with Alma Viva (2022).