THESIS ON A DOMESTICATION, Based on the Novel by Acclaimed Trans Author and Screenwriter Camila Sosa Villada, Who Also Stars in the Film, Will Have Its World Premiere at the Chicago International Film Festival
Produced by Gael García Bernal and Diego Luna, and Directed by Javier Van de Couter, this Bold and Gripping Drama Offers a Provocative Re-Imagination of New Trans Narratives
Thesis on a Domestication (Tesis sobre una domesticación) by award-winning writer-director Javier Van de Couter and based on the homonymous novel written and adapted by the film’s lead, acclaimed Argentine trans author Camila Sosa Villada, will have its world premiere at the 60thChicago International Film Festival.
The film will participate in the OutLook Competition, running from October 16 to 27, followed by its screening at the Morelia Film Festival, October 18-27, with additional international film festivals to be announced soon.
Produced by Gael García Bernal, Diego Luna, Laura Huberman, Ramiro Pavón and Van de Couter, Thesis on a Domestication spotlights Sosa Villada herself. The renowned author—profiled in The New York Times and The New Yorker, with her works translated into English—masterfully embodies a protagonist who refuses to conform to traditional ideas of success, family, or the expectations placed on trans women.
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 Alfonso 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.
THESIS ON A DOMESTICATION. Tesis sobre una domesticación, Argentina/Mexico, 2024, 113 min. In Spanish with English subtitles. Director: Javier Van de Couter; Screenplay: Javier Van de Couter, Camila Sosa Villada, and Laura Huberman; based on the novel Tesis sobre una domesticación byCamila Sosa Villada; Executive Producers: Laura Huberman, Ramiro Pavón, Diego Luna, Kyzza Terrazas; Production Companies: Aurora Cine, Oh My Gómez!, La Corriente del Golfo; In Association with: Bombilla Cine, Groncho Estudio; Cinematographer: Luciano Badaracco; Editor: Mariana Rodríguez; Music: Catriel Nievas. Cast: Camila Sosa Villada, Alfonso Herrera, Carlos Cano, Ignacio Ferrochio, Sebastián Arzeno, Romina Escobar.
About the Director:
Javier Van de Couter is a film, theater, and television director and scriptwriter. Mía (2011), his first feature film, won the Coral Award for Best Unpublished Script at the Havana Film Festival and was distinguished with the Premio Maguey for the Best Feature Film at the 27th Guadalajara International Film Festival. Implosion (2021), his second film, won the Grand Prize for the Best Film at the 21st BAFICI. He is co-scriptwriter of Aire libre and Alanis –both films participated in the Official Competition at the San Sebastian Film Festival. He wrote and directed La Celebración, which was nominated for the Best TV Movie or Miniseries for the International Emmy Awards in 2015, Limbo, for Star+ and Cris Miró (ella) for HBO Max.
About the Protagonist and Writer:
Camila Sosa Villada was born in 1982 in La Falda (Córdoba, Argentina). She is a writer, actress, and singer, and previously earned a living as a sex worker, street vendor, and hourly maid. She holds degrees in Communication and theater from the National University of Córdoba. Her play Carnes tolendas, retrato escénico de un travesti was selected for the 2010 National Theater Festival held in La Plata. Her first novel, Bad Girls, won the Premio Sor Juana Inés de la Cruz and the Grand Prix de l’Héroïne Madame Figaro and has been translated into more than twenty languages. Her following novel, Tesis on a Domestication, is scheduled for publication in English by Riverhead Books in spring 2026, and has been adapted into a film directed by Javier Van de Couter.
