In the short film Aman, a trans man discovers on the eve of his gender-affirming surgery that he is pregnant. It is a film that instantly asks the viewer to stay patient, to consider… in place of immediate conclusions and labels. Filmmaker Rahul Roye explores the gendered concepts of pregnancy and self-identity in place with this film, which just had its world premiere in the Short Cuts competition at the Toronto International Film Festival .
In an exclusive chat with Hindustan Times after the world premiere, Rahul spoke about the premiere, why telling this story felt urgent in the backdrop of the 2026 amendment to the Transgender Persons (Protection of Rights) Act and more. The premiere was honestly quite overwhelming in the best possible way. We had audience travelling from New York just to watch our short, and after the screening, people came up to us, hugged us and cried. We cried with them. To see something we had carried so privately for four years touch people so deeply was incredibly moving. Taking Aman to TIFF was a dream in itself. To finally sit in that theatre in Toronto, watch it with an audience and feel that kind of response was something we could never have imagined when we started making the film. It felt special and incredibly special. I instantly knew I wanted to approach Sirat. I reached out to her, she very kindly agreed to audition, and it just felt perfect. Then she recommended Kabir for the role of Aman, and when we met him, we knew he was the one. Aman is now heading to its European premiere at the 70th BFI London Film Festival, where it will be part of the main competition, followed by its US premiere at the Oscar qualifying Tasveer Film Festival. We also have a few more really exciting selections coming up, but I don’t have the liberty to talk about those just yet. But more than anything, we are so eager to bring Aman home. We would absolutely love to show the film to an Indian audience, and we’re really waiting for that Indian premiere. That would be a very special moment for us.
Around that time, my earlier film A Lullaby for Yellow Roses was playing at the Dharamshala International Film Festival , where I watched I Am Sirat by Deepa Mehta.
