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tilde: Melbourne Trans & Gender Diverse Film Festival
Friday, 31 October 2025 until Sunday, 02 November 2025
TILDE is back for 2025!
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
2025 films...
Journey’s End
So called Australia, Drama, 2023, 15 mins
Dir. Linus Tolliday.
Unclassified (U), 15+
WORLD PREMIERE
In this queer story of connection in the face of alienation, Mia, a writer in Melbourne, drifts between old friends and new faces in a lyrical drama. In a community familiar with being outsiders, the power of subtle gestures, unspoken signals, and implied meanings is more potent than words.
Nest
Aotearoa, 2024, Horror, 10 mins
Dir. Willem Koller.
Unclassified (U), 15+
Captioned
AUSTRALIAN PREMIERE
A trans body-horror about a reluctant mother-to-be who, struggling to accept a pregnancy she never wanted, undergoes a deeply shocking labor experience. When confronted with her husband’s disgust at what she has given birth to, she is forced to take drastic measures to reconcile with who she has become.
FOUND
So called Australia, Drama, 2022, 14 mins
Dir. Luka Otis Gracie
Unclassified (U), 15+.
Captioned
Apollo, a nervous 21-year-old trans boy, feels stuck and lonely. One night, he discovers Transcendence — a club for trans people — and everything begins to change. Young writer, director, and lead actor Luka Gracie brings a fresh voice to trans and queer filmmaking with their heartfelt and uplifting story about finding chosen family.
Emile is Missing
So called Australia, Drama, 2024, 16 mins
Dir. Sam Carson, Félix Morreo Zisserman.
Unclassified (U), 15+
Captioned
Following the disappearance of her girlfriend, a trans filmmaker discovers EmileCam, a 24-hour livestream devoted to spying on her.
Bagua
So called Australia, Horror, 2025, 13 mins
Dir. Mish Keating
Unclassified (U), 15+
A young Chinese woman’s obsession with feng shui spirals out of control as she tries to protect her girlfriend from an evil spirit.
Sperm Donors Wanted!
Aotearoa, Documentary, 2024, 12 mins
Dir. Logan Rea
Unclassified (U), 15+
Captioned
AUSTRALIAN PREMIERE
With limited resources available for trans people seeking biological parenthood, Krishna turns to durational theatre—transforming personal need into public performance. Through candid on-stage interviews with strangers, he searches for the “perfect” donor.
SPERM DONORS WANTED! offers a powerful look at human connection and the complexities of queer family-making, inviting audiences into intimate, often humorous conversations that challenge traditional ideas of family.
International Shorts – A Mask Encouraged Screening
Bodyrebuilding
Canada, Experimental, 2025, 11 mins
Dir. Vivek Shraya
Unclassified (U), 15+
Captioned
Mask Encouraged Screening
How diversity work led to chronic pain and a journey to healing through weightlifting.
Sydney & Kim
USA, 2023, 20 mins
Dir. Hazel Katz
Unclassified (U), 15+
Captioned
Mask Encouraged Screening
After 25-year-old Sydney undergoes major facial surgery, her best friend Kim cares for her in a motel during recovery. As Kim grows closer to the motel manager, Sydney’s resentment surfaces. Through quiet, intimate moments, the film explores the unspoken expectations between them. Shot on Super 16mm film, Sydney & Kim is about the unraveling of a close friendship, examining how illness and vulnerability reshape what we value most.
Puppygirl
USA, Documentary, 2025, 65 mins
Dir. Henry Hanson
Unclassified (U), 18+
Mask Encouraged Screening
In this gonzo documentary, a semi-delusional trans woman, Milo Talwani, embarks on a shocking, bizarre, and unexpectedly touching personal odyssey to undo years of sexual repression by performing in puppygirl fetish porn. Directed by Henry Hanson — the filmmaker behind last year’s Gay24 Presents, cult hits Bros Before and Dog Movie.
Eva Man
Spain, Italy, Science Fiction, Comedy, 1980, 75 min
Dir. Antonio D’Agostino
Unclassified (U), 18+
Captioned
English Subtitles
AUSTRALIAN PREMIERE
GAY24 Film Club and TILDE are extremely proud to present the Australian debut Antonio D’Agostino’s 1980 trans softcore triumph EVA-MAN: THE LOVE MACHINE.
Eva has everything a lover could want, irresistible to both sexes and aided by The Love Maker; an incredible new piece of technology that allows her to become ready for anything at the touch of a button. It’s this new technology that attracts the attention of an impotent local gangster, who covets The Love Maker in an attempt to recapture his past glory. It’s up to Eva, alongside her bestie Ajita, to fight off this gang of spiteful heterosexuals and live to love another day.
Co-starring the transfem dream duo of Eva Robbin’s (yes that’s how you spell her name, with the apostrophe and everything; incredible diva shit), and the legendary grindhouse superstar Ajita Wilson (MANCUBA SEXUAL, SADOMANIA), EVA-MAN is a gorgeous artefact of trans desire and desirability, a beautiful reminder that not only have we always been here, we’ve always been this hot.
The Beach Boys
USA, Comedy, 2024, 20 mins
Dir. Milo Talwani.
Unclassified (U), 18+
Two trans surfer bros are on a mission to suicide bomb Jeff Bezos…but not before spending one last, perfect day riding epic waves and smoking dank kush.
We are Pat
USA, Comedy, Documentary, 2025, 92 mins
Dir. Rowan Haber
Unclassified (U), 15+.
Open Captions
AUSTRALIAN PREMIERE
Pat, the evasive, androgynous SNL character played by Julia Sweeney, was a ubiquitous presence in the pop culture ether of the 1990s. As a kid, filmmaker Ro Haber grappled with a strange obsession with Pat — a character whose popularity hinged on them making others wildly uncomfortable with their refusal to adhere to strict gender lines. Both time and their identity moved forward and yet, even as an adult, Haber’s preoccupation remained.
Now, 35 years after the first “It’s Pat” sketch debuted on SNL, Tribeca alum filmmaker Haber and a who’s who of queer and trans comedians and writers (including Sweeney herself) come together to confront the existence of Pat. Through discussions and debate via the lens of 2025 and trans visibility, the group goes on a mission to reframe the character — an unexpected opportunity to not erase Pat but reclaim them in a manner that eliminates ridicule and instills empowerment.
It’s Pat
USA, 1994, 77 mins
Dir. Adam Bernstein.
PG.
Open Captions
It’s Pat is a 1994 American comedy film directed by Adam Bernstein and starring Julia Sweeney, Dave Foley, Charles Rocket, and Kathy Griffin.
Pat searches for true happiness through a career and a relationship with the equally androgynous Chris.
Based on the character Pat from Saturday Night Live, the film has left many audiences asking: Why was this even made?