Thesis on a Domestication / Tesis sobre una domesticación, directed by award-winning filmmaker Javier Van de Couter, has won the Gold Q-Hugo Award for Best LGBTQ+ Feature Film in the Out-Look competition at the 60th edition of the Chicago International Film Festival. Based on the homonymous novel written by acclaimed Argentine trans author Camila Sosa Villada—who also co-adapted the screenplay with Van de Couter and Laura Huberman—the film had its world premiere at the Chicago International Film Festival, followed by the Morelia Film Festival.
Produced by Gael García Bernal, Diego Luna, Huberman, Ramiro Pavón, and Van de Couter, Thesis on a Domestication features Sosa Villada in the starring role. The renowned author—profiled in The New York Times and The New Yorker, with her works translated into English—masterfully portrays a protagonist who refuses to conform to traditional ideas of success, family, or the societal expectations placed on trans women.
“An uncompromising tour de force from longtime collaborators Van de Couter and Sosa Villada, based on her book of the same name, the film explores permutations of womanhood through the lens of its trans protagonist (played expertly by Sosa Villada herself). New and old fragments superpose as she navigates changes in her domestic life, career, and approach to sex.
“This epic portrait of complex relationship dynamics proposes coexistence without consensus and explores forms of love that embrace both mystery and wildness. Sosa Villada is a bona fide star, both on-screen and as a writer, delivering an unflinching performance. Alongside co-star Alfonso Herrera, she gives this film its rapturous, untamable heartbeat,” the jury noted in a written statement.
The film follows a successful Argentine trans actress who proudly claims her hard-earned place in the world. She revels in the prestige her glittering career brings, attracting the attention of a handsome lawyer, played by renowned Mexican actor Herrera (Ozark). As their love blossoms into marriage, and they build a home and family together, Sosa Villada’s character navigates the new and unexpected reality of her iconoclastic life.
As she traces the course of her life, she weaves a new trans narrative—one that demands the right to ambition, desire, glamour, security, and the freedom to embrace both flaws and contradictions. When Camila and her husband adopt a child, they defy the conservative community in Argentina, but their pursuit of domestic happiness is thwarted during a visit to the actress’s hometown.
This bold drama continues a new wave of Latin American cinema that pushes the boundaries of trans representation, moving beyond stories of victimhood to reimagine a more inclusive world. Thesis on a Domestication explores the stigmatization of AIDS, desire, eroticism, and the family ties of a trans actress. Set against the backdrop of her public persona and her attempt to create a domestic life, the protagonist seeks what has long been denied to trans women: both safety and happiness.
Through its deeply complex characters, the film presents audiences with new possibilities for trans success, happiness, and love. Fast-paced and moving, Thesis on a Domestication is a provocative journey of love and self-realization that won’t leave audiences indifferent.
