‘Sultana’s Dream’ to Release across Bangladesh

An animated feature inspired by Begum Rokeya’s feminist novella Sultana’s Dream is heading to Bangladeshi cinemas soon.

The film arrives with significant international attention following festival premieres and awards across Europe and South Asia.

Directed by Spanish filmmaker Isabel Herguera, the 86-minute animation first premiered in 2023 and was internationally acclaimed.

Its debut took place at the San Sebastián International Film Festival, marking the start of its global journey.

Afterwards, the film secured a theatrical release in Spain before touring several major festival circuits worldwide successfully.

Screenings followed at events including the European Film Festival, Goa Festival, Hamburg, and Leeds International showcases worldwide.

The animated feature also collected awards, strengthening its profile as a culturally significant international production project.

Bangladesh audiences will soon access the film as Star Cineplex unveiled its official trailer online.

Although a precise date remains unannounced, exhibitors indicate a theatrical opening later in January 2026, with a nationwide release.

Herguera’s connection to the project began over a decade ago during a research visit to India.

While working on a short film, she encountered Begum Rokeya’s book displayed inside a Delhi gallery.

The striking cover, depicting a woman piloting a spacecraft, compelled her to read further immediately with fascination.

Written more than a century earlier, the text imagines women governing society while men remain domestic.

Herguera found the ideas remarkably modern, prompting an extensive eight-year period of research and development work.

Sultana’s Dream translates Rokeya’s radical imagination into animation that blends politics, poetry, and memory, thoughtfully layered.

It reflects enduring struggles against patriarchy while affirming women’s agency within unequal social structures globally today.

Produced as a Spanish-German collaboration, the film brings together five companies across two countries.

Its multilingual design incorporates Bangla, English, Hindi, Italian, Spanish, and Basque languages seamlessly throughout the narrative structure.

Music features a song written by Moushumi Bhowmik, composed by Tajdar Junaid and performed with sensitivity onscreen.

The track is sung by Deepanwita Acharya, complementing the film’s reflective and lyrical tone throughout scenes effectively.

In December 2025, Herguera visited Bangladesh, travelling to Pairaband and engaging with Rokeya’s historical legacy directly through firsthand experiences.

She also spoke at Dhaka’s Liberation War Museum, outlining the intellectual process behind adaptation during seminar discussions.

Reflecting on Rokeya’s vision, Isabel Herguera emphasised its revolutionary simplicity and lasting feminist influence worldwide today, quietly enduring.

She said: “Begum Rokeya imagined a reversal of gender roles more than a century ago, and that courage continues guiding feminist thought today.”