I AM WHAT I AM is a life-affirming and powerful documentary about one of Israel’s first trans people, Efrat Tilma. When she returns home after years in exile, she finds the cycle of discrimination she once escaped repeating itself under Netanyahu’s government. After initial hesitation, she decides to stand up and fight for equal rights alongside young activists once again to avoid having to flee the repression once more.

In the 1960s, Efrat Tilma was forced to leave Israel after being raped several times and persecuted by the police. She ended up with Madame Arthur at the Carrousel de Paris and after undergoing a sex change in Casablanca, she began a new life in Berlin.

After more than 35 years in exile, Efrat Tilma returns to Israel, determined to confront her past. There she finds a changed and open country and makes history as the first transsexual volunteer in the Israeli police force.

But as Israel moves to the right with the inauguration of the Netanyahu government, the dark shadows of the past return. In addition to political discrimination, violence against the LGBT+ community is on the rise, as it is in many other countries around the world. This time, however, Efrat Tilma is not fleeing, but is instead becoming a courageous pioneer against social regression.

Efrat Tilma is voted one of the ‘100 Most Influential Women of the Year’ by the BBC in 2022.