El sueño de la sultana

As if from the very studio of the artist in question, the production processes for the film El sueño de la sultana (‘Sultana’s Dream’), which is the first animated feature film by Isabel Herguera (San Sebastian, 1961), are rolled out in this exhibition’s different areas. Since 2016, the studio of Isabel Herguera and her team have been set up intermittently at Tabakalera’s Artists’ Space, from where they have been adtackling the complexity of each of the images that comprise this film.

Sultana’s Dream is a feminist tale written by Rokeya Hus- sain and published in India in 1905. It describes the utopian, imaginary world governed by women that inspired this feature film, taking place in different places around the world including India, Rome, and San Sebastian. Herguera’s graphic style is unique and perfectly recognisable, beautifully worked through three animation techniques that can be perceived in the exhibition: stunningly tinted watercolours and cels through which the film’s protagonist illustrates her travels through India; the temporary henna tattoo that a group of artists use to soberly depict themselves in the Ladyland, and the animated cut-outs on the multi-plane table that describe us life in the time of Rokeya Hussain.

After sequenced filming of the images that the artist had printed at a specific pace from the changes that she made between them, we will finally be able to witness the magic of movement that will only reveal itself to us and exist while viewing the film. Matter and movement are the elements that Isabel Herguera has produced in her latest and most ambitious work, bringing together all of the knowledge the artist had acquired during her extensive professional career as a filmmaker and professor.

Begoña Vicario. Filmmaker.