Sultana's Dream

• Isabel Herguera
• 86 min
• Germany, Spain
• 2023
• Animated

The Indian feminist Begum Rokeya Hossein's pioneering work about a women's state inspires an artist on a journey to India in a unique animation filled with wonderful music and magical realism.

The artist Ines travels to India and stumbles upon a novella by Begum Rokeya Hossein in a bookstore. She was a Muslim thinker and feminist activist in colonized India, and in 1905 published the science fiction utopia "Ladyland", where women hold the power while men take care of the household. In the novella, Ines finds inspiration to seek a place where women are allowed to dream, in peace from men's constant babbling. Short film veteran Isabel Herguera makes an incredible feature film debut with three different styles: the story of Hossain is done in shadow animation, Ines's journey is painted with watercolor, and the sequences in Ladyland are designed with traditional Mehndi patterns.

- Freddy Olsson

• Animation
• Religion
• Feminism
• Resa