Skip to main content
I Am Revathi film image; person looking out a window from a dark room

I Am Revathi

Njaan Revathi / நான் ரேவதி

Focus

This event has passed

International Premiere

I Am Revathi offers a deeply personal and intimate glimpse into the life of A. Revathi — trans woman, writer, activist, and theatre artist. P. Abhijith’s documentary traces Revathi’s journey from Namakkal, Tamil Nadu, to the hijra communities of Delhi, Mumbai, and Bengaluru in the mid-1980s, revealing the harsh realities and quiet resilience that shaped her path. Through powerful recollections by Revathi and her contemporaries, the film explores her transformation into a prominent voice for trans rights in India.

Despite legal recognition, transgender individuals in India continue to face a range of systemic challenges. Alongside Revathi’s story, Abhijith depicts the lived experiences of transgender people in India and sheds light on their struggles, power, and ongoing fight for visibility, dignity, and inclusion. I Am Revathi recognizes the resistance and community building of trans activists and collectives as they work to highlight the broader realities of trans lives.

 

Presented by

Media Partner

Community Partner

           

Director
Featuring

A. Revathi

Credits
Country of Origin

India

Year

2025

Language

In Tamil, Kannada and Malayalam with English subtitles

Film Contact
Links
18+
115 min
Cinemas of Asia Documentary Human Rights & Social Justice LGBTQIA2S+

Book Tickets

This event has passed.

Credits & Director

Producer

A. Shobhila

Screenwriter

P. Abhijith

Cinematography

Mohamed A.

Editor

AmalJith

Original Music

Rajesh Vijay, Shyaam S.K.

P. Abhijith headshot

P. Abhijith അഭിജിത്ത് പി

P. Abhijith is a native of Kozhikode, India. He is a filmmaker and chief photojournalist with Madhyamam who has been effectively bringing attention to the transgender community of Kerala, India, through images, visuals, and writing since 2007. His photo exhibition played a crucial role in the implementing the official state policy recognizing and supporting transgender people in Kerala, the first of its kind in the country.

Filmography: Antharam (2023)

Missing VIFF? Check out what's playing at the VIFF Centre

All the Lovers in the Night
All the Lovers in the Night film image; man and woman touching the backs of their hands together

All the Lovers in the Night

Dir. Yukiko Sode
139 min

A lonely proofreader's isolated world begins to open through an unlikely friendship with a gentle physics teacher. Based on Mieko Kawakami's acclaimed novel, this luminous drama is a delicate meditation on loneliness, intimacy, and self-discovery.

Lindsay Family Stage at Granville Island International Village 9 Fifth Avenue Cinema - 19+ only International Village 10
Clarissa
Clarissa film image; a woman peering out an open door

Clarissa

Dir. Arie Esiri, Chuko Esiri
134 min

Arie and Chuko Esiri’s Clarissa brings Mrs. Dalloway to present-day Lagos, with Sophie Okonedo playing the titular society hostess opposite David Oyelowo, Ayo Edebiri, and India Amarteifio in a Nigerian vision of class, privilege, and past lives.

Image: © Courtesy of Elevation Pictures

Fifth Avenue Cinema - 19+ only The Park Theatre

Opening Gala: The Debut

Dir. Jesse Eisenberg
150 min

VIFF is honoured to open the festival with this special by-invitation screening of Jesse Eisenberg's The Debut. When meek Mona (Julianne Moore) lands a part in a musical, she fully inhabits her character, but grows increasingly untethered from reality.

Vancouver Playhouse

Árru

Dir. Elle Sofe Sara
95 min

Set against the mountains and fjords of northern Norway, Árru follows reindeer herder Maia as a proposed copper mine threatens her Sámi community, forcing her to fight to protect both her community and the land that sustains it.

SFU Woodwards Lindsay Family Stage at Granville Island Fifth Avenue Cinema - 19+ only
The Beloved
The Beloved film image; two people walking through the desert

The Beloved

Dir. Rodrigo Sorogoyen
135 min

When Esteban Martínez, an acclaimed director with violent tendences, invites his estranged daughter to star in his latest project, the stage is set for a familial reconnection. But as tensions flare, questions about his intentions rise to the surface.

The Rio Theatre The Park Theatre Vancouver Playhouse
MODES 1
Golden Island film image; man standing next to a structure in some water

MODES 1

115 min

Archive and the land reveal other ways of seeing, ensuring that what is meant to endure cannot be erased.

The Cinematheque International Village 8