OBSERVER: Tilde
Trans-led international film festival Tilde celebrates turning 12. This year’s theme is Young Blood, because “our blood carries our stories”.
The festival will host eight sessions across six days to celebrate the work of established and emerging trans and gender diverse (TGD) artists.
For a second year, Tilde honours filmmaker Lilly Wachowski, who is the Festival’s Aunty (Patron).
As a writer, director, mentor, and Executive Director, Lilly is spearheading a powerful wave of trans-authored storytelling.
More than an icon, she has reshaped pop culture through films that reflect trans experiences and use world-building to spark public dialogue.
Continuing the collaborative tradition, opening night will feature a partnership with Sapphic Flicks at Footscray Community Arts Centre.
A critical conversation between Sistergirls, Brotherboys, trans and gender expansive First Nations creatives in response to Notes on Vanishing by Lily Alexandre. A night for trans truth telling, led by the First Storytellers.
Saturday May 2 will feature the third edition of Our Future, in partnership with Fed Square. Featuring trans-authored shorts from close to home and across the ditch. The 2026 edition continues to spotlight visionary gender-diverse filmmakers from across the country. Featuring award-winning shorts and world premieres, these are the voices shaping the future of cinema.
On Sunday May 3, join the Melbourne Queer Birders Collective for the world premiere of Canadian filmmaker May Matchim’s documentary Understanding Myself as an Amphibian.
Celebrate how transness connects with Country, queer spaces, and the joy of nature, featuring giant squids, lesbian albatrosses, and green frogs. Then head to Eclipse Cinema for the film and two shorts on Whenua: Herekore (Hariata Wilson’s poetry) and Foreign Bodies (animation by UK director Lysander Wong). Director May Matchim will be in attendance.
A new partnership will be celebrated with iconic queer space Pony Club Gym – to watch the coming-of-age hit, She’s the He. This Sunday, also enjoy DJs and a pre-feature short: the premiere of local filmmaker Josie Buden’s Under the Clocks.
For weekend two, Gay24, Buff and Tilde take over the Coburg drive in.
Following hot on the heels of last year’s sold-out trans softcore Tilde session, Gay24 Film Club teams up with the Brunswick Underground Film Festival for a selection of new voices from the international trans underground; presented on the big screen at the Coburg Drive-In Cinema.
Following a string of sold-out international screenings, the M. Sisters’ debut feature Divine Hammer makes its Australian premiere. Preceding Divine Hammer will be the local premiere of Aubrey Winslow’s short Guttercat, in which a punk sapphic couple attempt to wipe away their drug debt in Adelaide’s seedy southern suburbs.
Finally, Saturday’s closing event is an Alice Maio Mackay Movie Marathon. From DIY punk horror to dreamy, hypnotic trans fairytales, Alice Maio Mackay is a fearless filmmaker taking on the world.
Making her first feature at 16, she’s since collaborated with trans icons like Louise Weard (Castration Movie), Vera Drew (The People’s Joker), and Jane Schoenbrun (I Saw the TV Glow). This is the first-ever retrospective of Alice’s work.
For the full program visit: tildemelbourne.com
Tickets: $10-15
Cheryl Threadgold