\u2018As a writer, director, mentor, and Executive Director, Lilly is spearheading a powerful wave of trans-authored storytelling.\u201d TILDE said.<\/p>\n
\u201cMore than an icon, she has reshaped pop culture through films that reflect trans experiences and use world-building to spark public dialogue.\u201d<\/p>\n
The theme of Tilde this year is Young Blood, because our blood carries our stories, and was named by portrait artist Ash Spittal.<\/p>\n
The TILDE press release said the festival was \u201cinspired by Ash, by our young radical filmmakers, those crafting deep-cut trans narratives, and the powerful collective artistry of FAMILI, whose lyrics speak truth to power.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cMy blood is a river that carries a song. My blood are the people that lifted me all the way up.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
TILDE features a host of local and international works redefining and amplifying trans and gender-diverse storytelling.<\/p>\n
\u201cInvesting in local emerging filmmakers is central to our work,\u201d Bright said.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe Our Future session showcases trans and gender-expansive filmmakers from Naarm and across the country who are confronting and reshaping culture through their art.<\/p>\n
\u201cTheir stories don\u2019t just reflect the world \u2013 they reimagine it.\u201d<\/p>\n
Collaboration is at the heart of TILDE<\/p>\n
Opening night on Friday, May 1, features a partnership with Sapphic Flicks at Footscray Community Arts Centre.<\/p>\n
A night for trans truth-telling, led by the First Storytellers, and a critical conversation between Sistergirls, Brotherboys, trans and gender expansive First Nations creatives.<\/p>\n
The conversation will be in response to \u2018Notes on Vanishing\u2019 by Lily Alexandre.<\/p>\n
Saturday, May 2, will feature the third edition of OUR FUTURE, in partnership with Fed Square featuring trans-authored shorts.<\/p>\n
Expect fruity-ness, satanic rituals, pregnancy tests from voices shaping the future of cinema,<\/p>\n
Be sure to stick around and hear from the filmmakers\u00a0in person at the TILDE Q&A.<\/p>\n
On Sunday, May 3, join the Melbourne Queer Birders Collective for the world premiere of Canadian filmmaker May Matchim\u2019s hopeful documentary Understanding Myself as an Amphibian.<\/p>\n
While the session is sold out, you can still add your name to the waitlist and keep your fingers crossed.<\/p>\n
![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/Dean-website-images-5-13.png\")
Images: Supplied<\/p>\n
Celebrate how transness connects with Country, queer spaces, and the joy of nature, featuring giant squids, lesbian albatrosses, and green frogs.<\/p>\n
Bird with us, then head to Eclipse Cinema for the film and two shorts on whenua, Herekore (Hariata Wilson\u2019s poetry) and Foreign Bodies (animation by UK director Lysander Wong).<\/p>\n
Director May Matchim will be in attendance.<\/p>\n
Iconic queer space Pony Club Gym will screen the hilarious coming-of-age hit of the decade, She\u2019s the He.<\/p>\n
Siobhan McCarthy\u2019s trans-filled teen comedy not only delivers everything we love about \u201990s high school cult classics and hits you right in the face like a game of trans-joy-dodgeball.<\/p>\n
While the session is sold out, you can still add your name to the waitlist and keep your fingers crossed.<\/p>\n
Chill out this Sunday with DJs and a pre-feature short World Premiere of local filmmaker Josie Buden\u2019s Under the Clocks.<\/p>\n
For weekend two, TILDE are hitting the road<\/p>\n
Following last year\u2019s sold-out trans softcore TILDE session, GAY24 Film Club are teaming up with the Brunswick Underground Film Festival.<\/p>\n
See a selection of brand new voices from the international trans underground, presented on the big screen at the Coburg Drive-In Cinema.<\/p>\n
Following a string of sold-out international screenings, the M. Sisters\u2019 debut feature DIVINE HAMMER makes its much-requested Australian premiere.<\/p>\n
Two women, both part of the same internet gore enthusiast community, formulate a plan to meet in person where one will kill the other, film the killing, and then sell the cameras that watch to unsuspecting customers online.<\/p>\n
The hope is that it will spur a new era of death, but what happens when something beyond their cruellest expectations spirals?<\/p>\n
![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/Dean-website-images-4-19.png\")
Divine Hammer by the M. Sisters
Image: Supplied<\/p>\n
The screening will also feature the Naarm premiere of Aubrey Winslow\u2019s short GUTTERCAT.<\/p>\n
Where a punk sapphic couple attempt to wipe away their drug debt in Adelaide\u2019s seedy southern suburbs.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Saturday\u2019s closing event is an Alice Maio Mackay Movie Marathon, the first-ever retrospective of Alice\u2019s work<\/p>\n
From DIY punk horror to dreamy, hypnotic trans fairytales, Alice Maio Mackay is a fearless filmmaker taking on the world.<\/p>\n
Making her first feature at 16, she\u2019s since collaborated with trans icons like Louise Weard (Castration Movie), Vera Drew (The People\u2019s Joker), and Jane Schoenbrun (I Saw the TV Glow).<\/p>\n
Grab a wristband, settle into comfy bean bags, catch a single film or lose yourself in the full marathon.<\/p>\n
Click here to grab your tickets and see the full TILDE 2026 program.<\/a><\/p>\n For the latest LGBTIQA+\u00a0Sister Girl and Brother Boy\u00a0news,<\/a>\u00a0entertainment,<\/a>\u00a0and community stories<\/a>\u00a0in Australia, visit\u00a0qnews.com.au<\/a>. Find us on\u00a0Facebook<\/a>,\u00a0Twitter<\/a>,\u00a0Instagram<\/a>\u00a0and\u00a0YouTube<\/a>.<\/p>\n \t\t\t![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/Dean-website-images-7-8.png\")
CARNAGE FOR CHRISTMAS \u2013 Alice Maio Mackay
Image: Supplied<\/p>\n