Fictional "Ladyland" at the summer cinema

Impressive animated film makes you think.

6.00 pm on Lutherplatz: "Will it rain or not? We have problems if it's too windy, then the screen won't be safe." With a heavy heart, the summer cinema is moved to the Lutherkirche. How good to have another place. In cooperation with the Cinema del Sol and the Nordstadt church community, we show the film "Sultana's Dream."

21:00 in the Lutherkirche: the guests have settled in with food and drink, some are lying on the red cushions; others are sitting on chairs. The red sofa is particularly popular. The film begins. An 11-year-old girl is sitting on a park bench in the evening, waiting for her father. Suddenly, a strange man is watching her. She is scared and the feeling remains: "I'm scared because I'm a woman."

As ELM, we work with partner churches that try to create safe spaces, such as the girls' home in Sengarayur. Here, girls can focus on their education and school in peace and go their own way. They don't have to worry about their siblings and the household. A "safe space" has been created.

The young protagonist Inés is a young artist with no passion or long-term goals. Then, in a bookshop in India, she discovers the fictional novel by Muslim social reformer Begum Rokeya Hossain, "Sultana's Dream", first published in 1905. It is about "Ladyland", where women rule and do research, while the men remain at home to look after the household and the children. Women are protected from the gaze of men and no longer need burqas or headscarves. There are no more wars; solar energy and hydropower are utilised. When Inés follows in the footsteps of Begum Rokeya, she gets to know herself differently and can dream again.

The animated film is artistically impressive. Some of the backgrounds are in watercolour, the figures are digitally drawn; other backgrounds are in Mehndi style (ornamental body painting).

22:55 A visitor at the exit: "Thank you for the trip to Ladyland. I was really impressed by the film. A friend dragged me along. It was well worth it."