This exhibit features materials from the creation of the film El sueño de la sultana, the first animated feature from Isabel Herguera (San Sebastián, 1961).

The film is inspired by Sultana’s Dream, a feminist story by Rokeya Hossain, published in India in 1905, which imaginatively describes a nation governed by women.

Herguera’s graphic style, developed in her earlier shorts, matures and expands in this piece, on which she worked for 15 years. Through the materials on display, we can examine the three main techniques employed in the film: watercolour, with which she beautifully depicts the journey to India; temporary henna tattoos, with which she illustrates the utopic Nation of Women; and cut-out puppets animated on various planes, used to tell us what life was like in Rokeya Hossain’s day.

The colour and textures of the materials are transformed into captivating frames in the film, having undergone a meticulous process of animation, digital composition and editing as well as the addition of sound.

Artist, film-maker and teacher Isabel Herguera, the recipient of Animac 2024’s Honorary Award, is one of the most distinguished voices in contemporary animation, and El sueño de la sultana is her latest and most ambitious work.

More information about the exhibition SULTANA’S DREAM: CREATIVE PROCESS at our Instagram @galeriaespaicavallers