Category: Adolescence

Two bullies flirt with the wrong girl in the dark revenge comedy Groupers

Two homophobic high school bullies flirt with the wrong girl at a club in Groupers, a controversial new film from writer-director Anderson Cowan.

After picking up drunken teens Brad and Dylan (Peter Mayer-Klepchick and Cameron Duckett) in a bar, Meg (Nicole Dambro) drugs them and ties them up in an empty swimming pool at an abandoned house.

She selected them because they were inflicting homophobic terror on her gay little brother, who recently attempted suicide. Now she’s using them for her thesis project, an experiment to prove that sexuality is not a choice.

Thesis papers, online revenge, Chinese finger traps, philosophical house squatters, dim witted street thugs and grown men riding tricycles all intersect in this wild and proudly unconventional new dark comedy.

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

Filmmaker Alex Liu gets to the bottom of sex education in this frank and funny new documentary

A huge hit with critics and audiences at film festivals, A Sexplanation is a proudly queer and Asian American comedic sex documentary about the unusual search for love, connection and family acceptance.

Like many Americans, writer/director/host Alex Liu’s childhood sex education left much to be desired. Years of repression left him feeling disconnected from his own body, his desires as a gay man and even his family. Now out and proud in his thirties, Alex decides it’s time to turn his years of fear and loathing into something more positive and humorous.

From neuroscience labs to church pews, A Sexplanation features provocative conversations with psychologists, sex researchers and even a Jesuit priest. With humor and grit, Alex takes audiences on a playful and heartfelt journey from a shame-filled past to a happier, healthier and much sexier future.

Oh, and he also sits down with his parents. That’s a highlight that you won’t want to miss.

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

Don’t miss the hilarious and heartwarming new Dekkoo-Original Short Film Making a Scene

With numerous short films to their names, we have become big fans of collaborative filmmakers Jono Mitchell and Madison Hatfield. Their work is intelligent, heartfelt and unapologetically queer.

Colorful, funny and deeply heartfelt, the pair’s latest short, Making a Scene, is a winning comedy that follows the warm, possibly too-supportive relationship between an overeager teenager and his eccentric mother.

When it comes time to rehearse an extracurricular scene for drama class, mom Carol and son Sammy (Vanessa Aranegui and Mack Bayda) hope that they may get some answers about the sexuality of mysterious schoolboy crush Ryan Riddle (Johnathon Grogan). He’s cute, he drives a convertible, he had a mustache in eighth grade, he was assigned drama when the weightlifting class ended up full and… above all else… he’s a good actor! But does he reciprocate his smitten scene partner’s feelings?

Making a Scene is now available on Dekkoo. You can also check out Mitchell and Hatfield’s other short films Max, If I’m Good and Thirty Candles – all of which are also currently streaming now on Dekkoo. We can’t recommend them more highly.

Short Film Spotlight: Shower Boys

An award-winning 9-minute short comedy from Swedish screenwriter Albin Abrahamsson and co-writer/director Christian Zetterberg, Shower Boys follows two young men who spend an afternoon struggling with their understanding of masculinity.

After a heated training match where their toughness is called into question, 12-year-olds Viggo and Noel (Lucas Andreasson and David Ramirez Knezevic) decide to spend some time together in the sauna.

The two friends begin to compete to see which of them is more “manly.” Though neither of them are looking to qualify for a top score, what feels only natural to them may be regarded quite differently by their parents.

Using nuanced writing and outstanding performances, Shower Boys hilariously reflects the complexity of growing up freely as a young boy and being able to explore your emotions and desires. While society tells boys they must fit into a specific box, this short film – and its characters – deconstruct all the usual stereotypes.

Watch a short trailer for Shower Boys below. The full short is now available on Dekkoo.

Short Film Spotlight: Unicorn

A new 30-minute short film from Rodrigo Bellott, the writer-director behind the award-winning 2019 drama Tu Me Manques, Unicorn tells a poignant story about religious fundamentalism, homophobia and a romance that helps one character break free.

Doug Porter stars as Isaac, a young man whose family’s strict religious code prohibits them from all modern-day technology. So strict is his pious father that Isaac sometimes finds himself locked away in a cell for even daring to interpret the Bible differently.

When he’s finally freed thanks to intervention from the local police, he finds himself shunned by everyone in his orbit – including his siblings. His work on a dairy farm in the neighboring town brings him into contact with Fernando, played by Eric Robles. An immediate spark is felt between the two, but in Issac’s homophobic and watchful religious community, his sexual awakening will come at a heavy cost.

Inspired by a true story, Unicorn is a gripping film from a talented director at the height of his powers.

Watch a trailer for Unicorn below. The film is now available on Dekkoo.

Two slash fiction writers check their taboos at the door in the crowd-pleasing comedy Slash

In Slash, writer-director Clay Liford’s charming new comedy-of-age comedy, Michael Johnson stars as Neil, a high school kid who struggles to fit in with his peers.

Expressing himself through writing, his fantasies follow a sci-fi action hero named Vanguard. A character with a strong hold on Neil’s imagination, Vanguard travels to far off planets where his battles for justice often devolve into shirtless skirmishes that embrace same-sex entanglements.

Passionate about “Slash,” otherwise known as erotic fan fiction, Neil is ostracized at school but soon finds a kindred spirit in Julia, played by Hannah Marks. Julia is a fellow slasher who gets her kicks from “Fain Elven” fiction. Embracing Neil as her protégé of sorts, the duo explore an unusual writerly passion.

Soon, a Comic Con-bound journey of self-exploration has them checking all of their taboos at the door.

A true crowd-pleaser at film festivals all around the world, Slash is a winning exploration of teen angst, bisexuality, life, love… and erotic fiction.

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

Short Film Spotlight: Stockholm

Stockholm is a powerful and stylishly-crafted new short film from British writer-director Tom Wright.

Alex Britt stars as Alex, a young gay man who, during what initially seems to be an unusual first date, attempts to gain control over a traumatic event from his past. Things, however, are not as simple as they initially appear.

Wright uses deliberately disorienting cinematography and quick editing to jump around in time. And while the exact nature of Alex’s trauma is kept mysterious, what we do know is that he met another young guy who ended up hurting him.

Taking us through a montage which shows the consequences of the incident, we see Alex spiral into a chasm of self-destructive behavior before finally taking the first steps toward dealing with his emotions in a healthier way.

Stockholm shows us, in an intelligent and even elegant way, the deep effects of sexual assault and examines how the circumstances of recovery are never just black and white.

Watch a short trailer for Stockholm below. The film is now available on Dekkoo.