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tilde: Melbourne Trans & Gender Diverse Film Festival
Friday, 01 May 2026 until Sunday, 03 May 2026
Established in 2014, tilde is a community-led, international film festival based in Melbourne. We are one of only a handful of trans and gender diverse (TGD) film festivals in the world.
Our focus is on the margins: those who live, work, and create on the periphery of dominant cultures. Our Mission is to redress the critical lack of positive TGD representations in mainstream culture by fostering TGD-created stories and storytelling in Australia and beyond.
We prioritise films that are directed, written, produced or collectively made by TGD filmmakers. We welcome films of all genres, lengths and styles, and are particularly interested in Australian and BIPOC filmmakers.
Our festival includes panels, networking sessions, community parties and special Multi-disciplinary performances.
Submission requires a $10 AUD fee.
TILDE People’s Choice Award
2026 films...
Notes on Vanishing
Canada, 2025, 48mins
Dir. Lily Alexandre
Documentary
INFLUX – INTERNATIONAL SHORTS
While construction is in progress, shops will remain open
France, 2026, 2 mins
ExperimentaL
Dir. Mordred Guadagno
Between 2021 and 2025, Mordred Guadagno’s city was under massive construction to prepare for a new streetcar line. As the works finally come to an end, Mordred grapples with the ending of a construction of their own.
Takapapa
Aotearoa, 2026, 12 mins
Documentary
Creators: Briar Rose, Jordan Walker
TAKAPAPA is an indigenous queer short documentary that shares the personal story of Jordan Walker navigating what it means for them to get puhoro as takatāpui.
Still Life
Brazil, 2025, 15 mins
Poetic Documentary.
Dir. Diran Serafim
Upon seeing a news report about an accident involving a delivery driver, Lucas, a transmasculine photographer, thinks he recognizes João, the guy he was in love with during his teenage years. Flooded by memories, he revisits images of Cohab1 in the East Zone of São Paulo.
How to Find a Career That Loves You Back
USA, 2025, 25 mins
Drama
Dir. Ethernet Wang
When two trans women are selected to represent a defence tech company at a careers expo, their trip sparks a tentative romance.
Resurrect Me as a Parasite
Canada, Netherlands, UK, 2025 10 mins
Experimental horror
Dir. Lou Lou Sainsbury, Gabi Dao
A vampiric trio facilitates the transition of a new host across a former limestone quarry and the sacred mountain grotto of Mary Magdalene, troubling the binaries of life, death, gender and parasitism.
Purebred
Northern Ireland, 2025, 15 mins
Drama
Dir. Caleb J. Roberts
During a heatwave in Belfast, transgender man Owen returns to the flat of his on-off-again lover Seán after taking a pregnancy test.
AFTRS PRESENTS: OUR FUTURE – THIRD EDITION
Bloodfire
So called Australia, 2025, 7 mins
Music Video
Dir. Sione Teumohenga, Bella Waru
An intercultural musical collaboration from the collective FAMILI, from their debut EP BLOODFIRE. Oceanic shapeshifters making future-ancient sounds. Fire. Reclamation
Flight Risk
So called Australia, 2025, 16 mins
Comedy
Dir. Mohammad Awad
Muhammad’s fruity holiday plans hit a roadblock when he gets stopped by airport security and is accused of running off to join ISIS. While he desperately needs to catch his flight, he’d still like to have some fun along the way. Based on a true story.
Hope
So called Australia, 2026, 20 mins
Comedy
Dir. Izzi Harris, Ada Tzinis
A lesbian and a trans woman walk into a fertility clinic… it, um, it doesn’t go particularly well.
They Persist
So called Australia, 2026, 8 mins
Drama
Dir. Lachlan Salvestro
A short film about the forever stagnant versions of ourselves that exist in the hearts and minds of the people we’ve left behind, as we grow and move on with our lives.
Soyboy
So called Australia, 2025, 17 mins
Comedy
Dir. Moo Renzaho
When infamous conservative media outlet ‘The Daily Larrikin’ becomes the target of a federal investigation into so-called “discriminatory hiring practices”, producers Jack and Tom scramble to come up with a way out of the ensuing legal trouble that will undoubtedly cripple the company.
The Museum of Lost Things
So called Australia, 2023, 13 mins
Comedy
Dir. Polly Garrett
Charlie is sucked behind their couch into a surreal museum of everything they’ve ever lost, from piles of mismatched socks to a cabinet of virginity trophies, only to discover a disturbing new exhibit devoted to their current relationship.
The Dysphoria
So called Australia, 2025 13 mins
Horror
Dir. Kylie Aoibheann
A trans woman performs a Satanic ritual to get a vagina, but unwittingly invites a demonic presence into her home which demands a terrible sacrifice.
UNDERSTANDING MYSELF AS AN AMPHIBIAN
Herekore
Aotearoa, 2024, 2 mins
Experimental poetry
Dir. Melissa Spratt, Gabe Bertogg
A visual representation of a poem by Maori poet, Hariata Wilson which tells the story of how they connect with their Takataapui identity through their whenua and ancestors of Te Tauihu.
Foreign Bodies
UK, 2025, 3 mins
Animation
Dir. Lysander Wong
Unclassified (U) 15+
A simple itch descends into an outbreak with many legs. Certain things will always find their way to the surface.
Understanding Myself as an Amphibian
Canada, 2026, 63 mins
Documentary
Dir. May Caroline Matchim
Understanding Myself as an Amphibian is a Queer ecology documentary that explores the sexual diversity of the wildlife around us. Director May Matchim draws connections between these incredible species and her own journey accepting her Transness.
Under the Clocks
So called Australia, 2026, 8 mins
Dir. Josie Buden
Comedy
Two strangers cross paths at a train station.
She’s the He
USA, 2025, 81 mins
Comedy
Dir. Siobhan McCarthy
Just before graduation, Alex and Ethan pretend to be trans women to get into the girl’s lockers. It’s all a joke until Ethan realizes: she really is trans.
Desire to Live (mutatis mutandis)
Brazil, 2025, 83 mins
Documentary
Dir. Giorgia Narciso
Bárbara is a fortune teller preparing to become a priestess in Candomblé. Heitor is a psychologist with a passion for horses. Aylla loves makeup and partying at techno nights. Anita is a performer living in a shelter. Kalú is a photographer who helps his partner raise her stepson.
These five individuals lead different lives, yet share one thing in common: they are trans and disabled. Giorgia Narciso’s stunning vision captures Brazil’s trans-disabled community, including their desires, their art, and the rhythms that give meaning to their lives, and offers a beautiful expression of how filmmakers can connect with their communities.
Guttercat
So called Australia, 2025, 12 mins
Horror
Dir. Aubrey Winslow
A punk sapphic couple attempt to wipe away their drug debt in Adelaide’s seedy southern suburbs.
The Divine Hammer
USA, 2025, 75 mins
Horror
Dir. Mae M. Hazel M
Unclassified (U) 18+
Two maladapted young women, both part of the same online gore enthusiast community, formulate a plan to meet in person with the intent that one will kill the other, film the killing, and sell the cameras that “watched” online to an unsuspecting customer in the hopes of spurring on a “new era of death.”
CLOSING EVENT: ALICE MAIO MACKAY MARATHON
This is the first-ever retrospective of Alice’s work. Grab a wristband, settle into comfy bean bags, and catch a single film or lose yourself in the full marathon. We’ve got free food, DJs, and more to be announced.