In April of 2018, São Paulo played host to the second annual Brazilian Mr. Leather competition… and things got heated, to say the least.
The new film Mr. Leather offers you a front-row seat – and takes you deep behind the scenes – as five individual contestants vie for full leather dominance. The winner will be crowned by Dom Barbudo, the first official Mr. Leather of Brazil. Along with victory comes a year-long commitment to promoting the leather community throughout the country, even in the face of increasingly conservative values and political unrest.
Making his feature film debut, writer-director Daniel Nolasco follows all the action, creating gorgeous and intensely provocative compositions that celebrate the unique power of this thriving subculture.
You check out the trailer for Mr. Leather below. The film is now available to stream on Dekkoo.
Billy (Kieran Foster) is already experiencing the ugly side of people’s fear and prejudice. He resolves, for the sake of his family, to leave his home town and go somewhere where he is unknown; where he can re-invent himself. Billy decides to take a job on a large farm far away; the most prestigious in its district. He hopes it will be a fresh start. As fate would have it, he immediately encounters the very thing he has tried to leave behind: he meets Tom (Luke Thompson), the farmer’s son.
Tom is beautiful and fearless, with the arrogance of privilege and youth. Their simmering romantic tension is further under-pinned by the social repression and isolation of rural New Zealand in the 1960s. A tinder-box of deceit and malice emerges as Billy discovers that he is not the only one fighting his desires and hiding his demons.
Inspired by true events, West of Eden tells a stylish tale of forbidden love and bitter revenge. Watch the trailer below. The film is now available on Dekkoo.
Brazilian writer-director André Antônio’s unusual first feature-length film reveals him as a unique talent. The Cultpremiered at the Rio International Film Festival and was awarded at Mix Brasil. It also recently had its European Premiere at the Göteborg International Film Festival.
Set in the year 2040, the film sees the city of Recife, in Brazil, deserted and in ruins. It was abandoned by the wealthy, who migrated to space colonies. The son of one of these rich families, bored in his new address, decides to return. In Recife, he redecorates his old house and spends his time reading, walking and getting involved with various men. Gradually, however, he perceives strange signs in the streets and discovers the existence of a secret cult.
André Antônio. Born 1988 in Recife himself, worked as an editor in several Brazilian films before founding, in 2012 and along with filmmakers Chico Lacerda, Fábio Ramalho and Rodrigo Almeida, the independent cinema collective Surto & Deslumbramento. In this collective, he directed two short films, Mama and Canto de Outono. André is also a researcher at Rio de Janeiro Federal University in the topics Cinema and Artifice.
You can watch the trailer for The Cult below. The film is now available on Dekkoo.
A sexy and provocative new Dekkoo Original Series from creator Matthew Lynn, The Third follows the story of Jason Height (Sean McBride), a young man recently displaced on the West Coast. During his conquests and adventures as a twenty-nine-year-old gay man in Palm Springs, he stumbles into a triad relationship with Carl and David (Corey Page and Ryland Shelton), an attractive, gay couple who are on the outs after thirteen years of marriage.
Thinking that a third person might spice up their relationship, Carl and David agree to move forward with Jason. What starts as a fling soon turns pretty series. The trip soon learn, however, that relationship issues only become more apparent once someone steps in to fill the gaps. What ensues is a tumultuous experience as everyone tries to figure the true definition of love… and whether or not it can be maintained in a three-person relationship.
Watch the full trailer for The Third below. Don’t miss this addictive new series when it debuts on October 24th – exclusively on Dekkoo!
Written and directed by John Ira Palmer, the six-minute short film Pitbull follows Javi (Josué Jiménez), a young man from East Los Angeles who is being harassed by his deeply homophobic neighbor. As tensions escalate, he must decide whether to finally confront his tormentor or turn the other cheek.
A writer, director and producer, Palmer created the short film Elwood Takes a Lover, which screened at festivals around the world and was an official selection of The American Pavilion Emerging Filmmaker Showcase at the 2019 Cannes Film Festival. He was named a quarter-finalist for the 2019 Academy Nicholl Fellowship in Screenwriting, and is also a co-writer of Samir, the Warner Bros-funded USC feature film adaptation of The Count of Monte Cristo.
Palmer also produced the documentary Al Imam, which became a Vimeo Staff Pick, aired on National Geographic, and earned KCET Fine Cut’s top prize. He also co-produced The Dare Project, directed by Adam Salky and written by David Brind, which screened at Outfest and Frameline in 2018.
In 2016, Palmer was invited to the Film Society of Lincoln Center’s Artist Academy for emerging filmmakers at the New York Film Festival. John’s experimental 16mm and super-8 short films have screened at venues such as REDCAT, Blum & Poe, and Pacific Film Archive. He has been selected for artist residencies at Echo Park Film Center and AICAD’s New York Studio Program, and awards including the ARRI Emerging Filmmaker Grant, the James Broughton Film Award, and a Princess Grace Foundation Film Honorarium. John earned his MFA at USC’s School of Cinematic Arts and his BFA at San Francisco Art Institute.
Watch the trailer for Pitbull below. The full short film is now available on Dekkoo.
Len (Matt Levett) is a Surf Lifesaving champion, a legend in the cloistered surf club just like his father. But when the younger, faster, fitter Phil (Jack Matthews) arrives at the club, Len’s legendary status starts to crumble. Then Len sees Phil arriving in the company of another man; a man Phil gives a farewell kiss too. Phil is gay.
Over the summer season, Len starts to form unexpected, confusing feelings for Phil. It’s something Len cannot accept and after the annual awards dinner, Len explodes. He finds Phil in the Club House locker room and violently attacks him.
But to Len’s surprise, Phil remains loyal to the pack and refuses to rat on Len about the beating in the Club House locker Room. Len stays in the Club and is free to compete in the annual Surf Lifesaving completion; a competition Len has won five times but Phil wins and Len’s defeat is final.
Broken, Len refuses to die and with his best mate Meat he takes Phil on a victory bender through the seedy city in an attempt to secure an intoxicated oblivion.
Arriving back at the beach where Phil won his victory the day before, Len sets upon Phil. And in a series of humiliating acts, Len finally comes face to face with a fundamental question, can he accept the truth about his sexuality and identity or will he succumb to complete oblivion.
A shocking and powerful tale of toxic masculinity, repressed desire and violence, Drown is now available on Dekkoo. Watch the trailer below.
Writer-director Andrew Ahn’s remarkably assured feature-length debut is a portrait of forbidden sexual awakening set in the nocturnal world of spas and karaoke bars in Los Angeles’ Koreatown.
David Cho (Joe Seo, who won the Special Jury Award at Sundance for his breakthrough performance), a timid 18-year-old living with his financially-struggling immigrant parents, chances upon a secret spot for cruising when he takes a part-time job at an allmale spa, and begins to realize hidden inner desires that threaten his life as a dutiful son and student.
Effervescent and atmospheric, this one-of-a-kind coming-of-age story makes the steamy spa a liminal place between dream and reality, and desire and disillusionment.
“Spa Night is an intensely personal film,” said Ahn. “I knew very early in the screenwriting process that I had to draw from my own life experiences in order to find the honesty I wanted to show on screen. As the son of Korean-American immigrants, I have felt the conflict between my parents’ expectations and my own personal desires. In Spa Night, I wanted to explore what it means to be a part of a Korean-American family. As Spa Night progressed into production, the film became even more personal for me. We shot on location in Koreatown, Los Angeles — at restaurants I have eaten at, spas I have visited, and streets I have walked down. As I directed scenes, I saw my family in this fictional family I had created.”
“My main character David speaks in a mix of Korean and English to his parents, the same mix I use when I speak to my parents. With Spa Night, I want to open up American independent cinema to include stories about immigrant communities told in languages other than English. It is important that our cinema culture reflect the diversity of the American experience. By telling this story, I am attempting to validate the immigrant experience and acknowledge my parents’ sacrifice to leave their home country and start a new life in America. Spa Night is my way of fulfilling my parents’ hopes and dreams.”
Watch the trailer for Spa Night below. The film is now available on Dekkoo.
When architect Bruno (hot Chilean TV star Francisco Celhay) finds himself passionately drawn to Santiago tour guide, Fernando (Emilio Edwards) he faces challenging decisions about his identity – and his relationship with his wife and young son.
Hired to design a civic landmark for the Chilean capitol city, Bruno struggles with the commission. His uncertainty about how to proceed professionally is paralleled by his personal grappling.
Offering no easy answers, this tenderly told tale of sexual discovery has earned comparisons to Andrew Haigh’s Weekend for its beautifully realized portrayal of two men in love. Variety called In the Grayscale “A measured, tenderly played study of imprecise sexual identity.” The San Francisco Chronicle called it a “wonderfully complex character study.” The film also won the Jury Award for Best First Feature at the Frameline San Francisco LGBT Film Festival and the Ibero-American Debut Award at the Miami International Film Festival.
“The Blue Hour” can mean the time between day and night, a realm between dream and reality, or a point between good and evil. Based on a true story, The Blue Hour from director Anucha Boonyawatana is all about the relationship between a boy, who is pressured by his family, and a mysterious young man who will lead him into horrifying situations.
A sexy supernatural love story about a bullied loner, Tam (Attapun Poonsawad), who finds solace in the arms of Phum (Oabnithi Wiwattanawarang), a boy he meets at a haunted swimming pool. Phum reveals that his family’s land has been stolen and the new found lovers imagine a perfect life together on the disputed land. Haunted by a ghostly presence, Tam struggles to stay connected to reality.
An official selection of the Berlin International Film Festival, The Blue Hour is a dark atmospheric tale of love and distress.
Born in Nakhon Phanom, a North-Eastern Province of Thailand, in 1981, Anucha Boonyawatana is a Thai independent film director and also founder of G-Motif Production, one of the largest video production company in Thailand. His thesis film “Down the River”, combination of Buddhist philosophy and Thai art and a love story of a gay couple, won Young Thai Artist Award and has been shown at several film festivals. He collaborated with TUC, Thai-American Public Health Agency (under the US government) and UNESCO to direct the online movie “Love Audition1, 2” aim to promote health and relationships among Thai gay teenagers. In 2012, his short film “Erotic Fragments No.1, 2, 3” was screened in competition at Berlinale Shorts of the 62th Berlin International Film Festival. The Blue Hour is his first feature film.
Check out the trailer for The Blue Hour below. The film is now available on Dekkoo.
Have you ever been paralyzed with fear? That’s exactly what the protagonist of Analysis Paralysis—Tyler O’Conner—is fighting. That is, if he can decide on a course of action. This romantic comedy follows Tyler as he navigates the treacherous road of romance as he starts to fall for the guy next door. Will his analysis paralysis prove to be too much for this budding relationship, or will true love come out on top? We sat down with the director, actor, and co-writer of Analysis Paralysis, Jason T. Gaffney, to discuss how this project was brought to life.
Tell us about yourself:
First and foremost, I’m a filmmaker who loves comedy, but I’m also an actor, director, producer, and a writer of both screenplays and romance novels. In my spare time, I co-host a weekly comedy podcast called The Bright Sidewith Kevin and Jason with my Analysis Paralysis co-star, Kevin Held. I was born in New York, grew up outside of Boston, went back to New York City for school, and lived there for a while. After filming The Perfect Wedding, I moved out to Los Angeles where I met my wonderful husband, Matt, and created My Pet Hippo Productions.
As a filmmaker, my goal is to make movies set in the inclusive and welcoming LGBTQ-friendly world that I grew up in. Although there’s still an important place for angsty coming-out dramas, I just don’t see my own reflection in those stories. So, I deliver stories where the LGBTQ characters have moved beyond any conflict surrounding their sexual orientation and get to deal with the same zany hijinks that straight, cis characters have been dealing with for decades. And I want to make people laugh along the way!
What was your main source of inspiration for this film?
My biggest source of inspiration for Analysis Paralysis was my burning desire to make people laugh. There was also a close family friend named Bill who was an expert at figuring out all possible outcomes before he made a business move or played his hand at poker. During game nights when the question “Whose turn is it?” came up, the answer was always a very loud and exasperated, “It’s Bill’s turn!”
When I was brainstorming screenplay ideas for an indie movie with my writing and producing partner, Ed Gaffney (who also happens to be my father), the idea of a main character with a severe case of Bill-itis came up, and we both really liked it. Thus, Tyler O’Connor was born. After that initial brainstorming session, I called up my psychologist sister-in-law, and as we talked more in depth about anxiety, I knew we had our story!
What was it like working on this script with your father as a co-writer?
When Analysis Paralysis did the LGBTQ film-fest circuit this past year, our most frequently asked question was, “You wrote this movie with your father?!” Yes, I did! I love working with my dad. We have very similar senses of humor.
We first started working together back when we wrote The Perfect Wedding—our first LGBTQ rom-com. After we produced that, we grew frustrated by the amount of time and money it takes to tell a story through filmmaking. So, we decided to write romance-novel versions of the movies we wished we had the budgets to make. Whether we’re writing a book or a screenplay, our process is the same. Basically, I write a first draft and send it his way. Then, he takes a pass at it, makes revisions, and punches up some of the scenes and jokes. I then go over it again and punch-up some of his jokes. Our back-and-forth process really helps us figure out which scenes need the most work as well as what’s missing from the script.
After viewing this film, Sylvia Plath’s famous quote about the fig tree from her novel, The Bell Jar, comes to mind. How does this relate to you personally as someone who has many paths vs. Tyler who can’t even seem to pick one?
When I was growing up, I was under the impression that you had to take one path in life. I was going to be a Broadway actor, but despite going to school for musical theater, I found myself getting hired as a film actor instead. Shortly after I jumped into film, I started getting involved in the production side of things. I quickly discovered that the best way to make sure a movie that I’m acting in gets made is to produce, write, and direct it myself. I’ve also learned to edit and do each film’s assembly cut, so I’m essentially my own assistant editor, too!
In the Plath quote, I’m sitting in the crotch of that tree sampling every fig I can reach—even the ones I have to go way out on a limb to grab. Because why not, Sylvia Plath? Who made the rule that you only get one fig? I’m a firm believer that you can sample all the possibilities in life and find the ones that best suit you. Life is too short not to go after the things you want.
In Analysis Paralysis, Tyler is a lot like the woman in Plath’s fig tree. Only he doesn’t want to starve to death, so he courageously takes action to combat his paralysis.
Why do you think it’s important to show someone like him on the screen?
Tyler has managed his high levels of anxiety for most of his life, including a handful of relationships although none of them were really serious. After his first book is published, it hits all kinds of bestseller lists. With huge success like that, it’s easy for a writer to get blocked. Because of the pressures of his career, he’s really struggling. As he’s working to overcome that, he realizes that maybe he’s never had something serious romantically because he’s never been able to be honest about his anxiety.
I loved both writing and playing Tyler. I think it’s important that people who struggle with anxiety get to see their reflection in him as he wins his happily ever after. I think Shane says it best: “You’re the bravest person I know. Every day, you face a world that is scarier than anything that I can imagine.” He’s not just talking to Tyler there. He’s talking to everyone watching who see themselves in Tyler. It’s a message of support and hope, and I really love all the feedback I’ve gotten on the character. A lot of people really relate to him.
When writing the script, were you actively writing a rom-com?
Oh, absolutely! I’m a huge fan of romantic comedies. It’s my go-to choice to watch, read, and work on. I’ve always loved stories where love wins and I laugh out loud the whole time.
As real-world stress has risen over the years, I find myself needing to laugh more to keep from dissolving in a puddle of panic. We all need laughter to bring balance to the current awfulness. Making others laugh is high on my to-do list.
How did you approach acting through the many scenarios that constantly run through Tyler’s mind?
I was excited to get to play out all the different wacky scenarios that Tyler imagined. In fact, one of the biggest challenges was keeping a straight face while Kevin—the actor who plays Shane—let loose. There was a lot of laughter on set throughout filming!
What was the difference in your approach to this film in your roles as director, writer, and actor?
Each role has differences and similarities. As the writer, I want to create the best story I can, but it’s hard to write without wearing my producer hat, too. The director spends a lot of time on pre-production and making sure that the set feels like the real world. I do most of my own art as well as spending time getting permission to use logos or brands. For example, all of the underwear in Analysis Paralysis was generously provided by Andrew Christian. At the end of the day, every hat I wear has the same goal: make a movie that is as engaging and entertaining as possible.
What would you like audiences to take away after watching this film?
Everyone has anxiety to some degree, and we all deserve love and happiness.
What advice would you give to people struggling to break free from their own forms of analysis paralysis?
Even if the worst case scenario happens, your life isn’t over. Life can be scary, but once I figured out that I was going to keep on going no matter what, it became easier to make those scary leaps into the unknown. And more often than not, those leaps have led me to achieving many of my goals and dreams. So, take that leap and go for it!
How does it feel to have Analysis Paralysis featured on Dekkoo?
It’s great! We’re so happy to be here! We hope the Dekkoo subscribers will fall in love with Analysis Paralysis and want to see more from us! If you loved the movie, tell your friends!
Do you have any new creative projects on the horizon?
Right now, I’m in post production for a movie called Out of Body that also co-stars Kevin Held. It’s a paranormal rom-com that takes place during Halloween. It’s not horror though. Think Buffy the Vampire Slayer in terms of paranormal activity, but it’s heavier on the romance end of the rom-com spectrum than Analysis Paralysis.
I co-wrote it with Suzanne Brockmann who happens to be my mother and a New York Times bestselling author. She’s also written a romance novelization of Out of Body that was a finalist for a RITA award. The book is available in ebook, print, and audio. Actually, Kevin and I recently recorded the audiobook edition published by Blackstone Audio!
As far as the film of Out of Body goes, we’re approaching the test-audience phase of editing. In fact, our ongoing IndieGoGo crowd-funding campaign for the project includes a “watch an early cut of the film” perk that supporters can select.
Aside from Out of Body, I’m currently in pre-production for several more films as well as a comedy series.
Where can we find you online?
I’m everywhere! Come say hi! You can learn more about me and my many projects at www.JasonTGaffney.com or sign up for My Pet Hippo Productions’s newsletters here to stay up to date. I’m also on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, IMDb, and Amazon. Check out our Kickstarter and IndieGoGo to get some cool perks while supporting future projects (including Out of Body)!
You can watch Analysis Paralysis right now, available for streaming on Dekkoo!
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