SULTANA’S DREAM

Taking its inspiration from a feminist sci-fi short story written in Bengal in 1905, Inés sets out on a voyage of discovery around India in search of Ladyland, the Utopian land of women.

 
 

Poetic Drama / Spain, Germany / 86' / 2D analog, digital

SYNOPIS

Inés, a Spanish artist, lives in India and stumbles upon Sultana's Dream, a science fiction story written by Rokeya Hossain in 1905. It describes Ladyland, a utopia in which women rule the country while men live in seclusion and are responsible for household chores. Fascinated by the story, Inés embarks on a journey across the country to search for the one place where women can live in peace.

Director: Isabel Herguera
Writers: Isabel Herguera, Gianmarco Serra
Producers: Isabel Herguera, Diego Herguera, Chelo Loureiro, Mariano Baratech, Fabian Driehorst, Ivan Minambres
Executive Producer: Chelo Loureiro, Fabian Driehorst
Associate Producer: Sarah D’hanens for Cinnamon Entertainment
Production Companies: Sultana Films, El Gatoverde Producciones, Abano Producions, Fabian&Fred, UniKo
Studios: The Glow, Sparkle Animation, BlackBird Design, Zeigermann_Audio, Optical Art
Funding: Creative Europe, ICAA, Basque Country Fund, MOIN Film Fund, Madrid Film Fund, Galicia Film Fund
Broadcaster: EiTB, RTVE, ZDF/ARTE, Filmin, Movistar

FESTIVALS & AWARDS

  • Cartoon Tributes 2024 - Isabel Herguera, Nominee European Director of the Year

  • GOYA Awards 2024 - Nominee Best Animated Film

  • José María Forqué Awards 2023 - Nominee Best Animated Film

  • Official Selection Eivissa International Independent Film Festival – Ibizacinefest 2024

  • Official Selection Anima Brussels 2024

  • Official Selection Göteborg Film Festival 2024

  • Official Selection Filmfestival Max Ophüls Preis 2024

  • Official Selection AniMela 2024

  • Official Selection International Film Festival of Kerala 2023

  • (Official Selection Cairo International Film Festival 2023 - postponed)

  • Official Selection Gijon International Film Festival 2023

  • Official Selection IDFA Documentary Festival 2023

  • Official Selection L'alternativa Barcelona 2023

  • Official Selection Leeds International Film Festival 2023 - Nominee Best New Director

  • Official Selection Nordic Film Days Lübeck 2023

  • Official Selection Animario Madrid 2023

  • Official Selection Jio MAMI Mumbai Film Festival

  • Official Selection Tokyo International Film Festival

  • Official Selection Seminci Valladolid International Film Festival 2023

  • Official Selection Mostra Sao Paulo International Film Festival 2023 - Nominee Best New Director

  • Official Selection Abycine Film Festival

  • Official Selection DOK Leipzig 2023

  • Official Selection Filmfest Hamburg 2023 - Winner Hamburg Producers Award

  • Official Selection San Sebastian International Film Festival 2023 - Nominee Golden Seashell, Winner Best Basque Screenplay & Best Basque Film

 

ISABEL HERGUERA

Isabel Herguera is a Spanish animation film director with an international background. She studied fine arts at the Universidad del País Vasco and continued her studies at the Art Academy in Düsseldorf. She later earned a master’s degree from Calarts in Los Angeles, where she directed Los Muertitos (1993), an animated short about the wall separating Mexico and the United States. In 1997 she founded her own studio Loko Pictures (1996-2004), with which she produced numerous commercials and her animated short The Balloon (2003).

In 2003, Isabel returned to Europe, where she became director of Animac, the Catalonia International Animated Film Festival (2003-12) and coordinator of the Laboratorio de imágen en movimiento at Arteleku in San Sebastian (2003-14). She directed various animated short films that won awards and were nominated for the Goya Prize.

Isabel has been a professor at the National Institute of Design in Ahmedabad, since 2005, at the China Central Academy of Fine Arts in Beijing since 2012 and has been a professor in the animation department at the Academy of Media Arts Cologne since 2017. She has held workshops on animation in many places around the world such as Ethiopia, China, Cuba, Australia, Korea, Colombia, Mexico and Italy, although this is the place where she has most recently developed her work, in India, which gave rise to the Sultana’s Dream project, is her first feature film.

Filmography

● Sultana’s Dream – 2023 – feature
● Kutxa beltza – 2017 – short film
● Amore d’Inverno – 2015 – short film
● Bajo la Almohada – 2012 – short film
● Amar – 2010 – short film
● La gallina ciega – 2005 – short film