Close to the Sultan (French: Dans la chambre du sultan; Spanish: En la alcoba del sultán) is a 2024 comedy-drama film directed by Javier Rebollo [es] starring Félix Moati, Pilar López de Ayala, Ilies Kadri, Jan Budař, and Farouk Saïdi.
The plot follows Lumière Brothers collaborator Gabriel Veyre as he ventures into the land of Nour in 1901 in order to introduce the cinematograph to the sultan.
[1] Close to the Sultan is a French-Spanish co-production by Paraíso Production, Sideral, Eddie Saeta and Noodles Productions and it had the collaboration of CNC, ICAA, ICEC, Eurimages and the backing of Creative Europe MEDIA.
[5] It also made it to the main competition of the 69th Valladolid International Film Festival (for its Spanish premiere).
[7] Rubén Romero Santos of Cinemanía rated the film 4 out of 5 stars, declaring Rebollo's return "a celebration of the joy of storytelling, in any format and in any situation".