Category: Adolescence

Short Film Spotlight: Graduation

Four Chinese Americans must navigate their future as dictated by the circumstances of life and their families in Graduation, a funny and bittersweet 6-minute short film from writer-director Robin Wang.

Produced with help from the University of Southern California, the film stars Todd Lien and Dylan J. Locke as Caleb and Wizz, two students who are deeply in love, but keeping their relationship a secret from their conservative Chinese parents.

After a dinner celebrating Wizz’s graduation, the boys excuse themselves, telling Wizz’s mother and Caleb’s father that they’re leaving to see a movie. Truthfully, they go off to spend some romantic time together before Wizz leaves for Shanghai and the two are forced to part ways.

When they oversleep and wake up in their car, they believe it will spell their doom – not knowing that their wistful single parents are up to some shenanigans of their own back at Caleb’s father’s house.

Watch a short teaser trailer for Graduation below. The full short film is now streaming on Dekkoo.

Now Available: My Straight Son

Guillermo García stars in the gay family drama My Straight Son as Diego, a successful young photographer who lives inside a glamorous world of fashion, shallowness and excess.

When a tragic accident leaves his partner in a coma, it turns Diego’s whole world upside down. Unexpectedly, during this difficult time, he learns that we also must take care of his son, Armando (Ignacio Montes).

Now, both of them have to adapt to each other; Armando to the unknown, homosexual world of his father, and Diego to the closed-off, conservative attitudes of his teenage son.

Directed by well-known telenovela actor Miguel Ferrari and featuring performances by numerous Venezuelan television personalities, My Straight Son channels the early melodramas of Pedro Almodovar to tell a proudly sentimental gay father-son story.

A winner of numerous awards, this is also one of the first Venezuelan films to openly deal with gay and transgender topics.

Watch the trailer for My Straight Son below. The film is now streaming on Dekkoo.

A closeted young Jewish man explores his sexuality in this thoughtful drama set in 1980s Brooklyn

A closeted young man struggles to reconcile his strict Russian-Jewish upbringing with his burgeoning sexuality in director Eric Steel’s Minyan, a contemplative coming-of-age drama set in Brighton Beach during the 1980s.

Samuel H. Levine stars as David, a Yeshiva student who dutifully follows religious strictures, but itches to explore yearnings beyond his insular community.

When he moves in with his widowed grandfather, played by Ron Rifkin, and befriends two elderly gay neighbors, they open his imagination to new possibilities.

David begins to explore gay life in the East Village, just as the threat of AIDS looms in the background.

A sexy and thoughtful critically-acclaimed drama, Minyan is a must-see, telling a powerful story of rebellion, self-discovery, sexual and spiritual awakening – and survival.

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

Director Eloy de la Iglesia’s controversial classic ‘Hidden Pleasures’ is now available in a new restoration

Highly controversial at the time of its release in 1977, Hidden Pleasures is one of the first films in the history of Spanish cinema to prominently feature gay characters and themes.

Directed by acclaimed underground filmmaker Eloy de la Iglesia, the film stars Simon Andreu as Eduardo, a wealthy, but lonely and deeply closeted bank manager in his forties.

Though he’s secretive about his sex life, Eduardo uses his social and economic position to win over young men. In one of his regular cruising sessions, he meets and falls head over heels for Miguel, an attractive young straight guy played by Tony Fuentes.

As Eduardo’s infatuation with the young man grows deeper, it sets up a complicated love triangle between the pair and Miguel’s girlfriend Carmen (Beatriz Rossat) – not to mention Rosa (Charo López), the older married neighbor with whom Miguel is having an affair.

Though it’s clearly a product of the 1970s, Hidden Pleasures was truly radical at the time of its release. Though it was initially banned be Spanish censors, it was championed by film critics who opposed the ongoing censorship in the years after Francisco Franco’s death.

The film’s premiere was met with massive street demonstrations by gay activists who came out in support of Eloy de la Iglesia’s bold new vision.

Watch a short clip from Hidden Pleasures below. The full, newly-restored film is now available on Dekkoo.

Short Film Spotlight: October Boy

The stylish short film October Boy concerns Thomas (Elias Budde Christensen), a shy 14-year-old boy who has just moved to Copenhagen with his mom. Thomas likes to draw, it’s a way for him to escape from the pressure around him. In school he meets Mads and Emma (Noa Risbro Hjerrild and Esther Marie Boisen Berg).

Mads likes Thomas’ drawings, whereas Emma is romantically interested in Thomas and invites him home with her. Just before leaving, Thomas meets Emma’s older brother (Jacob August Ottensten), a young, emerging artist. The meeting changes something within him.

Rumors start circulating about Emma and Thomas – and though he doesn’t deny them, Thomas can’t understand his feelings, how to act in the new school or control the lies he has created to be popular.

A powerful 29-minute coming-of-age drama from Danish director Soren Green, October Boy is film about all the things that change us as people during out adolescence.

Watch the trailer for October Boy below. The full short film is now available on Dekkoo.

Acclaimed Danish director Christian Tafdrup’s breakthrough film ‘Awakening’ is now available on Dekkoo

Danish actor and director Christian Tafdrup made a big splash on the international film scene last year with the shockingly violent thriller Speak No Evil.

Back in 2008, he took a similar aim at taboo subject matter with the 39-minute drama Awakening, which has recently been restored by the cult distribution label Altered Innocence.

Awakening stars “True Blood” alum Allan Hyde as Carsten, a sixteen-year-old boy who is taking a trip to meet his girlfriend’s parents at their summer house.

Throughout the weekend, Carsten becomes increasingly bonded with his girlfriend’s father, played by Lars Brygmann. It seems these two men share the same secret – and their time together, which involves a furtive kiss, puts their carefully-constructed relationships in major jeopardy.

Though it may sound racy, Tafdrup handles the developing friendship between two closeted men of differing ages with a great deal of sensitivity and heartfelt honesty.

Watch a clip from Awakening below. The full short film is now available on Dekkoo.