Ana Isabel Soares holds a PhD in Literary Theory (the dissertation, on the work of David Wojnarowicz, is avaliable here); and a post-doctorate on Portuguese documentaries and poetry. She has published articles and organized books on Film Studies, and has taught seminars and given lectures on Portuguese documentary film (of António Reis and Margarida Cordeiro, Manoel de Oliveira, Pedro Sena Nunes, and most recently of Edgar Pêra).

She is a tenured Professor at the Faculty of Human and Social Sciences (Algarve University) and is currently working with the Camões Institute, in Lisbon. For over a decade, she was an active member of Faro Film Club; she is a researcher and founding member of CIAC - Centre for the Research in Arts and Communication (Algarve Univ. and School of Film and Theatre in Lisbon); she is also a founding member and presides to the board of directors of AIM - Portuguese Association of Moving Image Researchers.