Ireland’s first trans and non-binary film festival, TITE (Trans Image/Trans Experience), has released its jam-packed programme for its inaugural event. The spectacle is coming to the Light House Cinema in Dublin from April 25 to 27, 2025.
As previously said, the festival promises to showcase “the coolest, sexiest, best new work by trans filmmakers”, encompassing shorts and features from Ireland and abroad. TITE aims to shift the focus of trans cinema from representation to craft by championing trans and non-binary filmmakers and building connections between creators and audiences.
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In addition to the eight feature films and 40 shorts that will be screened, this year’s programme also includes a workshop and filmmaker Q&A, among other things to be announced.
From award-winning Sundance masterpieces to low-budget projects, the programme has something for everyone.
The festival will kick off on Friday with Ponyboi as the opening film. Starring star River Gallo, Dylan O’Brien and Victoria Pedretti, Ponyboi is a wonderfully original neo-noir queer self-discovery movie about the story of a young intersex sex worker who must run from the mob after a drug deal goes sideways, forcing him to confront his past.
The following day will start with Image Shorts and Dog Movie & Friends shorts, both of which include Q&A sessions. Spectators will enjoy a combination of visual splendour with an experimental edge to explore art, performance and transformation.
Joseph Amenta’s Soft screens at 5pm that evening. The movie follows three queer kids who spend their summer break making mayhem together and not talking about the underlying tension in their home lives.
In the meantime, an online workshop will take place. Host Vera Drew, best known for The People’s Joker, will bring her expertise in trans storytelling, editing, and acting to this one-of-a-kind creative session.
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At 7:30pm, a variety of Intimacy Shorts will be screened, offering a little bit of heartbreak and a lot of heated passion.
The night will end with Spirit Riser. Directed by trans femme and synth-pop visionary Dylan Mars Greenberg, Spirit Riser narrates the story of sisters Sydney and Ingrid, who have their world upended after a malevolent cosmic entity throws them to opposite sides of America—forcing them to run for their lives, discover the supernatural powers within them, and reunite to save the world from The Man From the Dark And Lonely Place.
The final day’s programme will start with dramatic storytelling in heart-wrenching and pulse-pounding Experience Shorts, followed by Sex Change: Shock! Horror! Probe!, TOPS and Peafowl, offering a chance for the best movie marathon.
To finish off the three-day programme, Stress Positions will mark the end of the inaugural edition of TITE. This Sundance film follows the story of Terry Goon, who is keeping strict quarantine in his ex-husband’s party house while caring for his bedridden nephew Bahlul, a 19-year-old model from Morocco. Unfortunately for Terry, everyone in his life wants to meet the mysterious model, who is undergoing a journey of self-discovery himself.
Speaking in GCN’s March 2025 magazine, filmmaker and TITE co-organiser Caleb J.Roberts said: “TITE has welcomed submissions from trans/non-binary folks in all departments, from costume to camera, with some films reflecting entirely trans crews. It’s such a pivotal time for trans filmmaking and I hope we see continued efforts for trans across productions.”
Filmmaker Sam Ahern, who has a film featured in this year’s programme, reflects: “For me, being trans comes with a lot of self-discovery and taking off these layers of masking and social conditioning relating to gender. (Combining that) with our own culture, which historically has a lot of shame and sexual repression, results in these kinds of all-feelings-bared, messy, horny, funny, dark films that often contain a shock factor which is very founded in something real.”
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To be a part of history and attend Ireland’s first film festival celebrating trans and non-binary cinema, TITE tickets can be purchased through the Light House Cinema’s website or at the box office.
© 2025 GCN (Gay Community News). All rights reserved.
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