Parallax Films has taken worldwide sales rights to Aman, a short from writer-director Rahul Roye about a trans man who discovers he is pregnant on the eve of gender-affirming surgery. The announcement arrives ahead of the film’s world premiere in the Short Cuts competition at the Toronto Film Festival, followed by a European premiere in the competitive short section at the BFI London Film Festival.
Deal structure
Parallax, a sales company with teams in Asia and Europe and a focus on Sinophone cinema, will represent the 16-minute U.K.-U.S.-India-France co-production internationally. Shot in Hindi and Bengali, the project counts Nikkhil Advani and Dominique Welinski as executive producers. It is produced by Apoorva Bakshi for Awedacious Originals, Elle León Nostas for Aymara Films, Neeraj Churi for Lotus Visual Productions, and Tushar Tyagi and Abid Aziz Merchant.
Parallax founder Liuying Cao said the film is ambitious but grounded in intimate experience, adding that it reaches the audience through “pain that is visceral, embodied, and deeply human” rather than slogans. Cao also called it a “beautiful and moving queer film from India.”
The festival route
Toronto’s Short Cuts competition and BFI London’s short film competition will both present Aman to festival audiences, with London selecting 10 shorts from around the world. For a short, back-to-back placements in two major festivals can act as a market screen for streamers, specialty distributors and festival programmers. The Parallax attachment before the premiere signals that the producers see this as a sales title, not merely an artistic statement.
What the package includes
- 16-minute runtime with Hindi and Bengali dialogue.
- Four-country production base: U.K., U.S., India and France.
- Lead role played by transgender activist Kabir Maan in his acting debut.
- Festival exposure in Toronto and London competitive sections.
- Backing from multiple arts foundations and a Kashish Q Drishti Film Grant.
Cast and creative positioning
The cast also includes Sirat Taneja, who previously appeared in Deepa Mehta’s Toronto-screening documentary I Am Sirat, alongside Guntaj Deep Singh and Satakshi Nandy. Roye described the project as an attempt to hold space for “bodies and identities that refuse simplification.” The film’s central collision of pregnancy, gender and bodily autonomy gives it a clear thematic line for programmers and rights buyers, especially as streaming services look for identity-led stories that can travel beyond a single market.
Aman is Roye’s third short, following Man & Wife and A Lullaby for Yellow Roses. For buyers, a festival-selected short with a sales agent is often a low-cost way to test audience response, meet emerging talent and build a more inclusive content slate without the budget exposure of a feature acquisition.
What it means for the screen trade
For media planners and entertainment marketers, films like Aman also serve as a signal of audience demand for specificity in queer and trans stories. Representation in this space is increasingly treated as a programming strategy, not just a one-off festival selection. The sales agreement turns a 16-minute short into a licensable piece of IP, which matters for platforms seeking distinct short-form content and for brands evaluating credible cultural partnerships.
The real test will be whether the Toronto and London screenings convert into regional or platform sales. The sales agent’s global remit gives Aman a structure to move beyond festival applause into actual distribution.
Source: Variety
