TITE: Stress Positions

CLUB 18+136 min

Synopsis

In the twilight of his twinkhood, Terry Goon 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.

Of all the rogues’ gallery nosing around Terry’s house, the most persistent vulture is Karla, Terry’s college drinking buddy who has transitioned in the decade since. Karla’s desper - ate for space after quarantining with her girlfriend Vanessa, an author whose breakout success was a novel with a more-thanpassing resemblance to Karla’s real life.

Theda Hammel is a quadruple threat in her directorial feature debut, also writing the film, composing its music, and playing Karla as one of the year’s best worst trans girls you know. She announces herself as vital new cinematic voice with this barbed satire that complicates traditional coming out narratives and questions the political complacency of a queer community which needs intersectionality more than ever; and she does it all with a barrel of cruel and absurd laughs at the expense of the oh-so-put-upon Mr Goon, played with masterful exasperation by John Early (Search Party, I Think You Should Leave).

Drawing the inaugural edition of TITE to a close with a film that demands a future where we’re better to each other, Stress Positions is a raucous and rowdy neo-screwball comedy that treats serious ideas with a silly touch.

PRE-FEATURE SHORT:

Dirty Talk (2024, Ireland, 16’)
Dir: Eva Wyse
Writ: Madi O’Carroll
On the quest for intimacy in the middle of a global pandemic, Tar and Anna meet for the first time in the hopes of having a socially distanced hook up – no touching, just (attempted) dirty talk.