I Am Sirat is a personal, vulnerable autobiographic documentary by Sirat Taneja about her experience as a transwoman in India, where she lives a dual life. Collaborating with acclaimed filmmaker Deepa Mehta, Sirat shot the film with her smartphone (taking advantage of her own experience building a platform on Instagram), capturing the real portrait of herself literally and metaphorically. While supported by a queer network of friends in Delhi and on Instagram, Sirat reverts to the closet at home. Living with and caring for her widowed mother, Sirat is forced to maintain the familial and cultural duties and responsibilities a son would traditionally provide, since her mother doesn’t understand or accept Sirat’s true self. As Sirat seeks to reshape her life and be true to herself while fulfilling her mother’s obligations, the film explores the larger social implications of queer identity and acceptance in India. An empowering portrait of a transwoman wrestling with cultural limitations while sharing her story with the world.
September 29: Q&A with co-director Deepa Mehta
Supported by
Community Partner
Canada
2023
Showcase
In Punjabi with English subtitles
Sexual Discrimination
Book Tickets
Indigenous & Community Access
Indigenous Access Tickets Community Access Tickets Ticket Donation Requests
Credits
Executive Producer
Dilip Mehta
Producer
David Hamilton
Cinematography
Deepa Mehta
Editor
Kabir Singh Chowdhry
Production Design
Maithili Venkataraman
A Collaboration Between
Deepa Mehta
Deepa Mehta is an Oscar-nominated filmmaker whose emotionally resonating work is known to be provoking and challenging. Her films have played major film festivals around the globe and been distributed in over 75 countries. Her films include The Elemental Trilogy: Fire, Earth and the Oscar nominated Water, Bollywood/Hollywood, Heaven on Earth, Salman Rushdie’s Midnight’s Children, Beeba Boys, Anatomy of Violence, and recently Funny Boy, which won Best Director, Best Adapted Screenplay and Best Original Score at the Canadian Screen Awards. Deepa has directed numerous TV episodes that include Netflix’s Leila, Apple TV’s Little America and Showtime’s Yellowjackets.
Filmography: Fire (1996); Earth (1998); Water (2005); Heaven on Earth (2008); Midnight’s Children (2012)
Sirat Taneja
Sirat Taneja a transgender woman who lives in New Delhi, India. She works in the Accounts Department at the Ministry of Social Defence. Previously, she worked at Love Life Society, an NGO working with people living with HIV or AIDS and Sexual Minorities on the issues of HIV/AIDS.
You Might Also Like
Missing VIFF? Check out what's playing at the VIFF Centre
Whispers in the Woods
A luxuriant, healing immersion in nature with ravishing wildlife photography, this is the cinematic equivalent of "forest bathing," a trip deep into the Vosges, France, with photographer Vincent Munier (The Velvet Queen), his father and his son.
King Arthur's Night
John Bolton's film of Niall McNeil and Marcus Youssef's musical staging recreates Camelot at Harrison Hot Springs. It's a self-referential piece which joyfully reframes a classical narrative through the prisms of disability, inclusivity, and imagination.
