TILDE Film Festival Opening Night – First Nations

For their 10 year anniversary, the TILDE Film Festival will screen the first of three nights of Trans and Gender Diverse cinema, in a celebration of First Nations gender diversity curated by Merryn Trescott and Jamie Connor.

As with every screening throughout the festival, the stunning 3-minute experimental short film The Beauty of Being Deaf begins the evening with an underwater celebration of hearing loss by director Chella Man.

The first Sapphic Flicks scheduled film of the night is 2022’s The Alexander Ball by director Jessica Magro, a 30-minute documentary following Samoan-Maori-Australian trans woman Ella Ganza, the Mother of the House of Alexander, as she, her house, and the broader Meanjin (Brisbane) ballroom community prepare for The Alexander Ball, one of the biggest nights of the year.

You’ll then find yourself transported into the lush Colombian forests, as Aribada takes you on a journey with the Indigenous trans women of the Emberá tribes in a dreamy surreal and spiritual 30-minute Cannes’ Queer Palm-nominated short film from directors Simon(e) Jaikiriuma Paetau and Natalia Escobar.

The second-last film of the night is the 5-minute Indigenous Luv by Diné director Demian DinéYazhi. This experimental short is part of the anthology film Hanky Code: The Movie, featuring 25 shorts from queer directors all over the world, and explores themes of decolonisation, Queer phantasy, and hanky codes, of course!

Rounding out the night’s exploration of First Nation Queer stories is the 11-minute He Takatāpui Ahau by director Alesha Ahdar. This Aotearoa-made film tells the story of a non-binary person who returns home for the first time since coming out.

When: May 3, 2024, 6.30 – 10 pm
Where: Footscray Community Arts, 45 Moreland Street, Footscray
Tickets: $15 ($5 Mob Tickets available)
Accessibility: Footscray Community Arts is wheelchair