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Now Available: Thirsty

From a tender age Scott Townsend’s life is ruled by his slippery gender.

Growing up a girly-boy in the projects of Cambridge, Massachusetts, under the watch of Doris (Deirdre Lovejoy), his dysfunctional, single mom, Scott (played by Townsend himself) is prey to bullying and assault.

Already a talented singer and performer, Scott grows up to be revered drag queen Thirsty Burlington and delights club goers in Provincetown with his spot on impersonation of Cher. But even in this gay mecca, being Thirsty comes at a price.

Inspired by Scott/Thirsty’s real life, Thirsty spotlights the power of gender identity to both endanger and work its magic. The journey moves through dramatic, fantasy and musical sequences coming full circle when Scott realizes what he wants most in life, “To be safe and comfortable in all his skins,” and loved for all that he is.

Watch the trailer for Thirsty below. The film is now streaming on Dekkoo.

Now Available: Fireflies

When Ramin (Arash Marandi) hid on a cargo ship leaving Turkey, he never expected to end up in Veracruz, Mexico by accident.

Having escaped persecution as a young gay man in his home country, Iran, Ramin suddenly finds himself far from everything he knows, living the life of an exile in this nostalgic, tropical port where his past and future are constantly confronted by new relationships and revived desires.

Written and directed by Bani Khoshnoudi, an Iranian-born Mexico City resident, Fireflies heralds the birth of a very talented female director whose personal story echoes throughout the film.

The title Fireflies is inspired by a 1975 op-ed by the late Italian filmmaker Pier Paolo Pasolini, who described “the state of fascism and cultural resistance in Italy at the time, creating a metaphor for resistance as the disappearance of fireflies,” said Khoshnoudi.

Watch the trailer for Fireflies below. The film is now available on Dekkoo.

Short Film Spotlight: Michael Joseph Jason John

The lonely man who lives in apartment #8 picks up a charming stranger on the New York City subway. The two spend a passionate, heartfelt night together. #8, though, is woefully unaware that not everything is as it seems… and he may be in grave danger.

Blurring the lines between reality and fantasy, the sexy and suspenseful ten-minute “romantic thriller” Michael Joseph Jason John explores the emotional aftermath of a one-night stand (and the inherent risks of hook-up culture). The film was written and directed by Scott T. Hinson, who also stars.

“One night stands have always fascinated me,” said Hinson. “Sometimes you make a connection with your partner and have a really good time, sometimes it’s just a ‘meh’ experience and sometimes it’s a nightmare and you can’t wait for him to get the hell out of your house.”

“But one thing is always the same. The light of morning will arrive bringing with it question after question – and that often unshakable emotional residue. Who was he? I felt a connection, did he feel it too? Will he call? Is he thinking of me? Could there be a future for the two of us? Is he the one that’s going to kill me and shove me under the bed? Dealing with these questions and morning-after feelings are what I wanted to explore while making Michael Joseph Jason John.”

Michael Joseph Jason John is now streaming on Dekkoo.

Now Available: My Best Friend

The new coming-of-age drama My Best Friend follows Lorenzo (Angelo Mutti Spinetta), a quiet teen who lives in a small town at the edge of the world in beautiful Patagonia.

Lorenzo is a good student, a curious and smart young person far more skilled in music and literature than in sports. When a dramatic event leaves a family friend with nowhere to live, Caito (Lautaro Rodriguez), a year older than Lorenzo, comes to stay in their home.

Covered in fresh bruises, tattooed, and handsome, Caito is both a disturbing and fascinating new presence in Lorenzo’s life. As their friendship grows, Caito begins opening up to Lorenzo – and the more Caito reveals his true self, the more Lorenzo finds his feelings growing for his new house guest.

With beautiful cinematography and outstanding lead performances, this tender coming-of-age story from writer-director Martin Deus, making his feature-length film debut, examines the space between first crush and first love.

Watch the trailer for My Best Friend below. The film is now streaming on Dekkoo.

A bold and harrowing gay classic comes to Dekkoo

Adapted by playwright Martin Sherman from his groundbreaking play of the same name, Bent employs an impressive cast of familiar faces to tell a painful personal story about the persecution of homosexuals in Nazi Germany.

In 1930s Berlin, Max (Clive Owen) sleeps with German SA officer Wolf (future “Game of Thrones” star Nikolaj Coster-Waldau), only to see him killed by his fellow Nazis the next morning as part of the “Night of the Long Knives.”

Refusing an offer of new papers from his Uncle Freddie (Ian McKellen) for fear of leaving his boyfriend Rudy (Brian Webber) behind, Max and Rudy are found by the Gestapo, to whom Max lies about his homosexuality and his relationship. He is soon sent to Dachau, where he meets and falls in love with Horst (Lothaire Bluteau), who shows him the dignity that lies in acknowledging one’s beliefs, even in the face of incomprehensible persecution.

Originally staged as a Royal Court production in 1979, starring Ian McKellen and Tom Bell, which later transferred to the West End, Bent earned major acclaim right out of the gate. Richard Gere played Max in the original 1980 Broadway production. In 1989, Sean Mathias, the film’s director, helmed a revival of the play, performed as a one-night benefit for Stonewall, featuring Ian McKellen, Richard E Grant, Ian Charleson and Ralph Fiennes. After receiving critical acclaim, Mathias directed a full, award-winning run in 1990 – priming him to head up the film adaptation to come.

Also co-starring Mick Jagger, Jude Law, Rupert Graves, Paul Bettany, Sadie Frost and Rachel Weisz, Bent is an unparalleled gay classic that deserves to be seen. Released in 1997, the film has long been unavailable… until now. Bent is currently streaming on Dekkoo.

Two estranged gay brothers reconnect in the emotional drama Tiger Orange

The indie drama Tiger Orange follows Chet (Mark Strano) and Todd (Frankie Valenti, better known to some fans as gay adult film superstar Johnny Hazzard), two estranged gay brothers who grew up in a small town in Central California to a homophobic, working class single father.

Now adults, the two could not have turned out more differently. Chet, the older brother, runs the family hardware store and still lives in their childhood home where he’s cared for their ailing father until his recent death. Todd ran off to Los Angeles at eighteen and never looked back. He’s burned the candle at both ends his entire life and now homeless, with no cash, he heads back up the coast to the home and the brother he left behind.

The surprise visit shakes up Chet’s safe and guarded life and the two of them living under one roof becomes a recipe for disaster. Soon Todd is stirring up trouble in town with his sexual misadventures and in-your-face bravado and Chet struggles to keep him in check while slowly unraveling himself.

As their long-simmering resentments boil to the surface, the brothers are forced to not only hash out their differences but begin to examine the common bond they never truly acknowledged.

Director, Wade Gasque, produced and co-wrote the film with Strano, his longtime partner. Strano won the Outfest 2014 Grand Jury Award for Best Actor for his performance in the film. Speaking about his motivation for making Tiger Orange, Gasque said “I have a handful of gay sibling friends and I’ve always been fascinated by their stories but I’ve never seen a movie about them. What was it like growing up together? Does it make the experience less isolating?”

Taking about casting beloved porn star Johnny Hazzard, credited here as Frankie Valenti, Gasque said ““This wasn’t some flashy, no-brainer kind of role. These brothers are broken and volatile. Frankie stretched himself. He put himself out there as an actor and showed real vulnerability. He took risks and I think his fans are going to be blown away by his performance.”

You can watch the trailer for Tiger Orange below. The film is now available on Dekkoo.

Sh*t gets radical in Queercore: How to Punk a Revolution

Started in the 1980s as a fabricated movement intended to ‘punk’ the punk scene, ‘Queercore’ quickly became a real-life cultural community of LGBTQ music and movie-making revolutionaries.

From the start of the pseudo-movement to the widespread rise of pop artists who used queer identity to push back against gay assimilation and homophobic punk culture, the poignant new documentary Queercore: How to Punk a Revolution is just that: a how-to-do-it guide for the next generation of queer radicals.

Directed by Yony Leyser, this doc features an impressively extensive participant list Included are Bruce LaBruce, G.B. Jones, Genesis Breyer P-Orridge, John Waters, Justin Vivian Bond, Lynn Breedlove, Silas Howard, Pansy Division, Penny Arcade, Kathleen Hanna, Kim Gordon, Deke Elash, Tom Jennings, Team Dresch, and many, many more.

Watch the trailer for Queercore: How to Punk a Revolution below. The film is now available on Dekkoo.

Short Films Spotlight: Dudes

In the new 11-minute short film Dudes, four buddies – Matt, Jay, Bobby and Denny, played respectively by Jakeem Hawkins, Anthon Meyer, Alexander Volpi and Michael Gmur – are sitting around playing video games. They’re also talking crassly about the girls in their orbit and relentlessly busting one another’s balls. Nothing unusual here. One could argue that this is the roundabout way that straight frat dudes display their affection. Soon, however, a line is crossed.

Once Denny starts trying to explain his lack of interest in a particular female hottie, the gay jokes ensue. “Do you hang out with your buds and plug each other’s assholes all day?” “Do you like to sit on the salami?” “Are you strictly dickly?” “Do you slide down the pole and take the sausage hostage?” Reaching a breaking point, Denny realizes it’s finally time to come out to his buds, whatever the consequences may be.

A Brazilian filmmaker who has studied at Vancouver Film School in Canada and at the New York Film Academy in Los Angeles, Noan Ribeiro has worked extensively in post-production as a visual effects artist. He makes his directorial debut with Dudes.

Dudes is now available to stream on Dekkoo.

Drag Heals is “part theater, part performance art and part group therapy”

Produced and directed by prolific writer/director/actor/author Charlie David, Drag Heals is a terrific new documentary series that follows men who have never worn heels or make-up but have always dreamed of letting their inner drag queen out to play.

These men, and aspiring queens, enter Canada’s first-ever drag class to explore how to create a compelling drag persona based around their own personalities and life experiences. Deeply persona and raw, these queens tackle prickly issues like gender identity, mental illness, heartbreak and feminism to better understand themselves and their queer experience in an otherwise straight world.

RuPaul brought “Drag Race” into the homes of millions and made the once-taboo art form mainstream. This newfound renaissance has inspired a new generation to explore the art of drag and challenge the constructs of gender.

While “RuPaul’s Drag Race” is a competition, Drag Heals is much more of a journey. For most of the participants, this experience is akin to a second coming out process – and the workshops end with a public performance where they each have to face down their fears of stepping into the limelight.

The show gives viewers unparalleled access to the creation of a performance that is more than just your average lip sync. The classes are structured so that the men must reveal their true selves in preparation for their public performance. In order to do it, they must be brave and vulnerable. As performance time draws near, the urgency to create a compelling piece forces them to face down their nerves and personal demons in order to deliver a quality performance for people who have shelled out money to see just that.

The full first season of Drag Heals is now available on Dekkoo! Watch the trailer below.

The romantic gay classic Come Undone still holds up almost 20 years later

Gorgeous bronzed bodies on the beaches of southern France and a passionate romance between two French teens are reason enough to see Come Undone, but this bittersweet, turn-of-the-millennium gay classic also has some profound things to say about the heartbreak of gay first love.

Eighteen-year-old Mathieu (Jérémie Elkaïm) is vacationing at the beach with his family when he meets local teen Cedric (Stéphane Rideau). After an extremely erotic kiss, the boys begin a hot and heavy affair, complete with skinny-dipping at night, nude dancing on the beach and intense lovemaking in the dunes. Yet as Mathieu grapples with his sexuality – and copes with his sick mother, absent father and a characteristically annoying little kid sister – his bond with Cedric grows stronger… until, like so many first loves before and since, it bursts.

Released to critical acclaim in 2000, Come Undone, directed and co-written by Sebastien Lifshitz, beautifully conveys Mathieu’s coming-of-age (a scene in which he comes out to his mother is still quite moving almost 20 years later). Both lead actors, Stéphane Rideau and Jérémie Elkaïm, are incredibly charismatic and give remarkable performances as the affectionate teens.

If you’ve never seen it before – or are just looking to dip your toes back in – Dekkoo has you covered. Come Undone is available now.