If you care about queer cinema - and genuinely care, not just in a 'I watched one documentary' kind of way - then TITE Festival deserves a spot on your radar right now.
Held in Dublin, TITE (which stands for Trans Image/Trans Experience) only debuted in 2025, making it one of the newer entries on the festival circuit. But it's already earned a reputation as a must-attend for fans of trans and indie queer film, and its second edition is shaping up to be even more compelling, according to Dazed.
Why this festival is different
There are plenty of LGBTQ+ film festivals scattered across Ireland and the UK, so what makes TITE stand out? It's the specificity. While most queer festivals cast a wide net, TITE centres trans-led storytelling in a way that's genuinely rare. Brighton's International Trans Film Festival does something similar, but focuses exclusively on short films. TITE programmes both shorts and features, giving it a broader scope and allowing for deeper, feature-length narratives to sit alongside shorter experimental work.
That combination matters. Shorts and features serve different purposes - one can punch fast and hard, the other can breathe and develop character over time. Having both in the mix means audiences get a much richer picture of where trans filmmaking is right now.
A second year that's already generating buzz
For a festival this young to already be described as a must-attend event is no small thing. The film festival world is crowded, and audiences are selective. The fact that TITE has built genuine enthusiasm so quickly suggests it's filling a real gap - not manufacturing a niche, but responding to one that was already there.
For viewers, that translates to a programme likely to surface films you simply won't find elsewhere. Festivals with tight, specific focuses tend to do that well - they attract submissions that know exactly where they belong, and curators who know exactly what they're looking for.
Worth the trip to Dublin?
If you're within reasonable travel distance of Dublin, this is the kind of cultural weekend that tends to stick with you. Even if you can't make it in person, keeping an eye on what comes out of TITE - which films get picked up, which filmmakers get noticed - is a smart way to stay ahead of the curve on trans cinema more broadly.
The second edition of TITE is shaping up to be a genuinely exciting programme. Sometimes the newer, smaller festivals are exactly where the most interesting things are happening.
