“Sultana’s Dream Lives in All of Us, Women’s Empowerment Transcends Borders”
Acclaimed Spanish filmmaker and animator Isabel Herguera speaks to BD Voice about Sultana’s Dream, her deeply personal cinematic journey inspired by Begum Rokeya’s visionary feminist text. Reflecting on her first visit to Bangladesh, her emotional trip to Rokeya’s birthplace in Pairaband, and the universal struggle for women’s safety and autonomy, Herguera explains why women’s empowerment transcends language, geography, and borders.
The interview was conducted by Audity Falguni.
Demanding for a ‘Ladyland/Republic for Women’ and ‘A Room of One’s Own’
Begum Rokeya and Virginia Woolf, writing from different worlds yet confronting the same structures of patriarchy, imagined liberating spaces where women could think, create and lead. From Rokeya’s visionary Ladyland in Sultana’s Dream to Woolf’s reflections on intellectual freedom in A Room of One’s Own, their ideas continue to shape feminist thought. A recent screening of Sultana’s Dream renews this dialogue across time, cultures and mediums. Audity Falguni writes for BD Voice readers.
Dhaka in Dire Need of Earthquake Preparedness
Dhaka has been rattled by a series of earthquake tremors in recent days, exposing the capital’s dangerous lack of preparedness. With building-code violations, dense unplanned urbanisation, and repeated seismic activity near Narsingdi and the Madhupur Fault, experts warn that even a moderately strong quake could turn the megacity into a disaster zone. Drawing parallels with the “Last Days of Pompeii,” the article examines rising geological risks and the urgent need for strict enforcement of safety standards, open spaces, and long-term urban resilience planning.
A Forgotten Sikh Heritage that Dhaka Must Protect & Promote
When writer Audity Falguni visited Gurudwara Nanak Shahi inside Dhaka University, she found not just a place of worship, but a surviving fragment of the city’s multicultural soul. Believed to mark the visit of Guru Nanak, the shrine has endured neglect, partition, war and near-erasure. Restored by Sikh soldiers after the 1971 Liberation War, it now welcomes people of all faiths, reminding Bangladesh of its long history of tolerance and the urgent responsibility to protect such cultural heritage.
Can Afghan Women Ever Dance Among the Red Tulips?
Despite passage of ten centuries since the assassination of Rabia, writing poems has again been banned in Afghanistan since the Taliban gained control of the land in August 2021. Poems? Women cannot now even walk without being accompanied by a mahram or a male member of her family. Writing poems by women is considered as something to be ashamed of and it may result in public beating or even to death.
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