Category: Adolescence

Short Film Spotlight: Turn It Around

Set at a teen house party, the 9-minute short Turn It Around follows fifteen-year-old Bram (Valentijn Avé), a young man who is surrounded by his friends and draws the Turn It Around Captures the Heart-Racing Intensity of a Teenage Crush

What starts as an ordinary house party quickly becomes a life-changing night in Turn It Around, the tender and emotionally honest LGBTQ+ short film now streaming on Dekkoo.

At the center of the story is Bram, a shy teenage boy trying to blend into the chaos of a crowded party. While he attracts the attention of several girls throughout the evening, Bram’s heart is focused elsewhere. Across the room is Florian (Tonko Bossen), the effortlessly cool, denim-clad boy who instantly captures his attention.

As the night unfolds, the chemistry between the two boys becomes impossible to ignore. There’s just one complication: nobody at the party knows Bram is gay.

The tension slowly builds through stolen glances, awkward moments, and the overwhelming fear that comes with wanting to be seen for who you truly are. When a game of spin the bottle begins, Bram is suddenly faced with a choice that could change everything — not just for the night, but for the rest of his life.

Directed by Dutch filmmaker Niels Bourgonje and written by Paul Bontenbal, Turn It Around became an award-winning festival favorite thanks to its authentic emotional storytelling and heartfelt performances from its young cast. The film perfectly captures the nervous excitement, vulnerability, and longing of a first crush while exploring the fear and freedom that come with coming out.

Fans of emotional coming-of-age stories and romantic LGBTQ+ cinema will find a lot to love here. If you enjoy intimate queer dramas, you can also explore Dekkoo’s collection of gay romance movies and discover even more heartfelt stories on the platform’s LGBTQ+ movies collection.

Why Turn It Around Works So Well

What makes Turn It Around stand out is its simplicity. Rather than relying on melodrama, the short film focuses on small moments — eye contact across a crowded room, hesitation before speaking, and the anxiety of wondering whether your feelings might actually be returned.

The result is a deeply relatable story for anyone who remembers the intensity of a teenage crush or the fear of revealing a hidden part of themselves.

The chemistry between the leads gives the film its emotional core, helping transform an ordinary party setting into something unforgettable.

Watch Turn It Around on Dekkoo

Turn It Around is now streaming exclusively on Dekkoo, home to a growing library of award-winning queer cinema, romantic dramas, international LGBTQ+ stories, and original series.

Looking for more emotional and romantic stories? Browse Dekkoo’s collections of:

Watch the trailer for Turn It Around below and experience this touching coming-of-age short for yourself.

Exploring Sexuality in the Digital Age: My Sweet Prince

In a smoke-filled basement, lit only by the flicker of a screen and the occasional orange glow of a spliff, a teen boy named Tommy (Yoni Roodner) sits detached from his friends, paralyzed by the fear of his own sexuality.

Afraid of the intense attraction he feels towards his male friends, he chooses to forgo physical company and instead seeks out anonymized friendships online, carefully muffling the dial-up sound of the router for midnight chat sessions with his pen pal and confidant on MSN Messenger.

Set during the early days of the internet, My Sweet Prince, a clever short written and directed by London-based filmmaker Jason Bradbury, uses segments from the filmmaker’s own teenage VHS diaries, shot during childhood summers at his home on the Isle of Wight. This footage is spliced together alongside the fictional story of Tommy, a young boy wrestling with doubt and uncertainty while finding solace in the virtual company of his online crush.

Looking back at at a very particular moment in time, My Sweet Prince subtly examines how the internet’s arrival catalyzed an unprecedented set of formative experiences for a guinea pig generation of youngsters.

Watch the trailer for My Sweet Prince below. The short film is now streaming on Dekkoo.

Dark Comedy: Stimulants and Empathogens Review

An award-winning dark comedy from Poland, Stimulants and Empathogens follows Antek (Michal Murawski), a closeted gay teen from a wealthy family.

At the start of the film, Antek is harboring a hopeless crush on Kuba (Gracjan Kosyl), a fellow teen who just happens to be a drug dealer.

Looking to get closer, Antek invites Kuba to his family’s villa under the pretext of another deal. What he doesn’t know, however, is that Kuba is on a mission, ordered by his superiors in the drug trade, his father and brother. They suspect that Antek may be reselling their product at a profit.

What begins as a romantic comedy of errors soon turns into a social satire rollercoaster of clashing cultures.

Watch the trailer for Stimulants and Empathogens below. The short film is now streaming on Dekkoo.

Exploring Grief: The Journey in Warm Smooth Mean

An emotional and gorgeously shot 14-minute drama from director Jess Maldaner and screenwriter Mark Allen, Warm Smooth Mean concerns a grieving son digging into his famous father’s mysterious past.

The short film follows Hunter Nelson (William McKinney), a brooding young man troubled by the suicide of his father, River Nelson. Before his death, River was one half of a legendary country western duo called Silent Station.

When Hunter receives an unexpected royalty check from his father’s work, he embarks on a journey to find the mysterious Jerry Lee McCoy (Cameron Dye), his father’s former bandmate, and pass along the money.

Finally coming face to face with Jerry, Hunter is surprised to find himself rudely rebuffed. He sets forth attempting to break down the older man’s defenses and to finally get some answers about what was behind his father’s untimely passing years ago.

Check out the poster for Warm Smooth Mean below. The short film is now streaming on Dekkoo!

A man looking down, wearing a dark denim jacket, with soft light coming through a window in the background. The image features text that reads '20 YEARS AGO TODAY COUNTRY LEGEND RIVER NELSON LEFT US... WARM SMOOTH MEAN'.

Short Film Spotlight: Solitude

Young Zeph’s (Jael Saran) relationship with his best friend and secret crush, Sol (Da’Von J. Solomon), is called into question as the pair spend increasingly more time together preparing for an art exhibition.

Desperate to save her son, Zeph’s mother Augustine (Marlo Stroud) stages an ambush to confront him. Events soon take a grim turn, forcing Zeph to question how he will reconcile who he really is with the person he’s pretending to be for the sake of his disapproving family.

A 17-minute short from Atlanta-based writer-director Knial Saunders, Solitude is a deeply affecting vignette, following the burgeoning sexuality of a queer black teenager who is forced to make the painful choice of conforming to family expectations or finally reaching out for romantic love and self acceptance.

Check out the poster for Solitude below. The short film is now available on Dekkoo.

Take a trip back to 1995 with the heartfelt coming-of-age comedy ‘Screams from the Tower’

From up-and-coming writer-director Cory Wexler Grant, Screams from the Tower takes place in 1995, following best friends Julien and Cary (Richie Fusco and David Bloom) as they begin their junior year of high school.

Though his offbeat, frequently edgy and often inappropriate sense of humor is not for everyone, Julien’s primary ambition is to host a show on the high school radio station.

When his dreams start to become a reality, Julien learns that he must come to terms with his shiny new popularity, his at-risk friendship with Cary and the reality of his own sexual identity.

A hilarious and heartfelt blend of comedy and drama, Screams from the Tower perfectly captures the highs and lows of teenage life, the struggle for self-acceptance and the true meaning of friendship. The real screams are the friends we make along the way.

Watch the trailer for Screams from the Tower below. The film is now streaming on Dekkoo.

Short Film Spotlight: Ruins

Poetic and deeply mysterious, Ruins is a supremely sexy 14-minute short from French writer-director Benoît Duvette, following two nameless young men (Paul Lecomte and Simon Royer) whose forbidden love has sent them running from society at large.

Set in a misty lakeside forest, the film finds two unnamed teen boys on the run. We don’t exactly know why, but it isn’t hard to guess that their feelings for one another are intense.

In the hollow of the night, alone, their pains and their fears eventually come to the surface.

Playing out like a dream sequence, Ruins is a sensual, atmospheric, and incredibly homoerotic coming-of-age short about the literal and figurative pain of youthful longing and desire.

Watch a short clip from Ruins below. The film is now streaming on Dekkoo.

‘Sandbag Dam’ is a sensitive, stunningly photographed portrait of youthful masculinity

Croatian director Cejen Cernic’s acclaimed romantic drama Sandbag Dam examines an internal battle that forms between small town ideals and burgeoning gay desires.

Former childhood friends Marko and Slaven (Lav Novosel and Andrija Zunac) shared a secret teenage romance before being found out – which resulted in Slaven’s father casting him out of the family.

Years later, Marko has become a local arm-wrestling champion and plans to start a career close to home with his younger brother. When Slaven returns after the death of his imposing father, their reunion threatens the delicate balance of Marko’s life and the traditional future he sees for himself.

As their town prepares for a coming flood, Marko will have to deal with his own torrent of buried emotions and decide what path he wants to follow: the life that was chosen for him or a more authentic one of his own making with Slaven.

Set in rural Croatia, this relaxed, slice-of-life drama skillfully captures the everyday rhythms of small town life while telling a gripping tale of forbidden gay love and long-awaited second chances.

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

Short Film Spotlight: Golden Boys

The short film Golden Boys follows Scott, Dylan and Carter (Steven Yaffee, Kristopher Turner and Andre Kim), three longtime friends on an unexpected bender who end up back at their old private school looking to cause trouble.

After breaking in, they immediately revert to being teenage boys – racing wheelie chairs, spiking the faculty coffee and drunkenly photocopying their asses.

The night begins to sour for Scott, though, when he is reminded of the fervent and confusing friendship he once had with Dylan. Haunted by the physical chemistry that they once shared, Scott recalls a time when they seemed right on the brink of exploring their romantic attraction. Neither he nor Dylan, however, could bring themselves to fully explore their feelings.

In the unforgiving light of those regrets, Scott grapples with the somber events that have brought him and his friends back together, and comes face to face with the true consequences of having been the school’s Golden Boys.

Watch a brief clip from Golden Boys below. The full 8-minute short is now streaming on Dekkoo.

Director Sergio de León gets surreal in the unique coming-of-age drama ‘Keep Coming Back’

Keep Coming Back stars newcomer Bruce Pintos as Emilio, an eighteen-year old who can hardly keep his hormones under control.

Emilio is suddenly, unexpectedly faced with handling the cursed inheritance of a rural dovecote for carrier pigeons following the death of his mother. Looking to settle her debts, he and his mother’s boyfriend Juan uncover a legacy of local bird racing championship prizes in their pigeon coop, inspiring them to begin training their feathered flock for an upcoming race.

As Emilio navigates a weighty cocktail of new, all-consuming sensations – including grief, lust and romantic longing – he discovers the local community’s gay orgies.

Deliberately surreal and packed with offbeat humor, this fascinating debut feature from South American writer-director Sergio de León is one of the most vivid and original queer coming-of-age films in recent memory.

Watch the trailer for Keep Coming Back below. The film is now streaming on Dekkoo.