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

AWARDS & NOMINATIONS

  • European Film Awards 2024 - Nominee Best Animated Film

  • Cartoons on the Bay 2024 - Winner Best Screenplay, Winner Special Price Renato Pallavicini

  • Premios Quirino 2024 - Winner Best Visual Development

  • Celtic Media Festival 2024 - Torc Awards - Nominee Best Animation

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

  • GOYA Awards 2024 - Nominee Best Animated Film

  • Ibero-American Quirino Awards 2024 - Nominee Best Animation Film

  • Feros Awards 2024 - Nominee Best Animation Film

  • Medallas CEC 2024 - Nominee Best Animated Film

  • José María Forqué Awards 2023 - Nominee Best Animated Film

FESTIVALS

  • Official Selection 24FRAME FutureFilmFest 2024

  • Official Selection World Festival of Animated Film Varna 2024 - Winner Grand Prix

  • Official Selection Animadba 2024 - Winner Eitb Award

  • Official Selection Annecy Animation Festival 2024 - Winner Grand Prix

  • Official Selection World Festival of Animated Film - Animafest Zagreb - Winner Grand Prix

  • Official Selection Manchester Animation Festival 2024

  • Official Selection Cinanima International Animated Film festival 2024

  • Official Selection Jakarta Film Week 2024

  • Official Selection ReAnimania - International Animation Film & Comics Art Festival of Yerevan 2024

  • Official Selection TIAF - Taichung International Animation Festival 2024

  • Official Selection Animation is Film Festival 2024

  • Official Selection Animest International Animation Festival 2024

  • Official Selection Animage - International Animation Festival of Pernambuco 2024

  • Official Selection Seoul Indie-Anifest - Seoul Independent Animation Festival 2024

  • Official Selection Ottawa Animation Festival 2024

  • Official Selection Animasyros International Animation Festival 2024

  • Official Selection Viborg Animation Festival 2024

  • Official Selection BUSTER Copenhagen International Film Festival for Children and Youth 2024

  • Official Selection BLON Animation Festival 2024

  • Official Selection World Festival of Animated Film Varna 2024

  • Official Selection Fantoche Animation Festival 2024

  • Official Selection Espoo Ciné International Film Festival 2024

  • Official Selection Imaginaria International Animated Film Festival 2024

  • Official Selection Animaphix New Contemporary Languages Film Festival 2024

  • Official Selection Animator Festival of Animation 2024

  • Official Selection Guadalajara International Film Festival 2024

  • Official Selection Annecy International Animation Film Festival 2024

  • Official Selection Animafest Zagreb 2024

  • Official Selection Cartoons on the Bay 2024

  • Official Selection Eivissa International Independent Film Festival – Ibizacinefest 2024

  • Official Selection Docs Against Gravity Film Festival 2024

  • Official Selection Flying Broom International Women's Film Festival 2024

  • Official Selection Les Sommets du Cinéma d’Animation de Montréal 2024

  • Official Selection Jeonju International Film Festival 2024

  • Official Selection ITFS Stuttgart Animation Festival 2024

  • Official Selection Bafici Buenos Aires Film Festival 2024

  • Official Selection Hong Kong International Film Festival 2024

  • Official Selection Kaboom Animation Festival 2024

  • Official Selection One World Human Rights Film Festival 2024

  • Official Selection International Film Festival of Uruguay 2024

  • Official Selection Niigata International Animation Festival 2024

  • Official Selection Tricky Women Animation Festival 2024

  • Official Selection Monstra Animation Festival 2024

  • Official Selection Anima Brussels 2024 - Winner Best Animated Feature Grand Prix

  • Official Selection Women's International Film Festival Kerala 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, Winner Special Mention

  • 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