Avani Rai is a Mumbai-based filmmaker and photographer whose work explores memory, political silence, and inherited histories through an observational and poetic lens. Her debut feature documentary, Raghu Rai: An Unframed Portrait — co-produced by ARTE France and supported by the IDFA Bertha Fund — premiered in competition at IDFA and screened at major festivals including DocPoint, DocAviv, Nordisk Panorama, Doc Edge, MakeDox, and the United Nations Association Film Festival at Stanford. The film also opened the TRT Documentary Film Festival in Istanbul to wide acclaim.
Her photographic work has appeared in National Geographic, Tatler, Vogue, Afar Magazine, Art Basel, The Wire,* and Mercedes-Benz Magazine. Rai has also directed and photographed campaigns for global brands such as Apple, Google, Dior, WhatsApp, British Airways, and Adidas.
Her fashion and editorial work often intersects with her cinematic eye — using light, texture, and stillness to evoke the emotional language of place and memory. Rai continues to expand her visual practice through cross-disciplinary collaborations that connect film, photography, and social consciousness — using art as a way to remember, resist, and rebuild.
Her photographic work has appeared in National Geographic, Tatler, Vogue, Afar Magazine, Art Basel, The Wire,* and Mercedes-Benz Magazine. Rai has also directed and photographed campaigns for global brands such as Apple, Google, Dior, WhatsApp, British Airways, and Adidas.
Her fashion and editorial work often intersects with her cinematic eye — using light, texture, and stillness to evoke the emotional language of place and memory. Rai continues to expand her visual practice through cross-disciplinary collaborations that connect film, photography, and social consciousness — using art as a way to remember, resist, and rebuild.