Category: Adolescence

Short Film Spotlight: The Kiss on the Cliff

The early 1980s were a difficult time to be LGBTQ+. AIDS was considered a death sentence, gay people were frequently shunned by their families and bisexual men and women often let their same-sex attractions go unexplored.

Made in 1993, The Kiss on the Cliff is a deeply moving 21-minute short from accomplished director Reid Waterer. The film begins in 1983, in the small town of Rock Springs, Wyoming, with an attempted kiss between best friends Mark and Steve, played by Stephen Wolfe Smith and Tom Tarantini.

Their deep feeling for one another has sent ripples of tension through every aspect of their lives and forced both of them to question whether their desire is worth the risk.

Flashing forward ten years later, the two are reunited. Though they find that their lives have followed very different courses, their relationship still demands some kind of resolution.

Recently restored, The Kiss on the Cliff offers up a unique look at a different era in both gay life and gay indie cinema.

Watch a super short trailer for The Kiss on the Cliff below. The film is now available on Dekkoo.

Now Available: Ekaj

From first-time filmmaker Cati Gonzalez, Ekaj is a gritty indie film that delves deep into the triumphs and torments of a gay teenage street hustler with an unflinching authenticity.

Ekaj, played by Jake Mestre, is a confused young teen living on the streets of New York City – trying to find his place personally, socially and sexually. His life begins to change when he meets Mecca, played by New York City-based artist Badd Idea.

A cynical hustler who is dying of AIDS, the older Mecca takes Ekaj under his wing. Ekaj starts taking on sex work, hoping to become the lover of a rich man and be taken care of for life. When he starts up a romance with an abusive painter named Johnny, his day-to-day existence goes from bad to worse.

Having earned acclaim at over 35 film festivals around the globe, Ekaj examines the turbulent lives of LGBTQ youth, specifically those who have been kicked out of their own homes. The film articulately depicts what it means to be gender-queer and struggling in the fast-paced landscape of New York.

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

Now Available: Isaac

The debut film from veteran Spanish producers Angeles Hernandez and David Matamoros, Isaac stars Pepe Ocio and Ivan Sanchez as Nacho and Denis, two former childhood friends who meet again years after having had an intense relationship as teenagers.

Both men’s lives are now quite different. Nacho and his wife Marta seem to be the perfect bourgeois married couple, but they’re struggling to get pregnant. Denis and his wife Carmen lead a more laid-back lifestyle, living from hand to mouth as they try to save up enough money to open up the restaurant of their dreams.

When Denis offers his partner as a surrogate for Nacho and Marta, the two couples find themselves having to deal with deep secrets the two men buried long ago.

Based on an acclaimed Spanish stage play by Antonio Hernández, Isaac is an emotional and poignant drama about class, happiness, repressed desires and learning to be your true, authentic self.

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

Present Still Perfect follows up on a beloved Thai romance

In Present Perfect, his 2017 feature film debut, Thai director Aam Anusorn Soisa-Ngim drew from his own experiences to tell the story of Toey and Oat, a pair of young men who, despite the fact that they both have girlfriends, end up falling into a brief affair during a trip to a small Japanese town.

The film developed a dedicated fanbase in Japan, leading to a successful crowd-funding campaign for this new, highly anticipated sequel. Set four years after the events of the first film, Present Still Perfect reunites the two young lovers – this time on a tropical Thai island.

Oat is now a married man with a son, but Toey has never forgotten their brief romance and won’t give it up so easily.

Tender and heartfelt, the film offers an idealistic view of same-sex relationships in modern day Thailand.

You can catch up on the whole romantic saga right now at Dekkoo. Present Still Perfect is available now, along with the original film. Watch the trailer for Present Still Perfect below.

Short Film Spotlight: Wilma

Wilma tells the story of an unusual meeting between an estranged father and his precocious child.

Wilma is a young kid who goes to meet her dad for the very first time at the trailer park where he lives. What the dad doesn’t know, however, is that the son he once fathered now identifies as a girl and has changed her name.

A touching and funny 11-minute short film from Icelandic writer-director Haukur Bjorgvinsson, an accomplished artist who has worked mostly as a sound designer in commercials and music videos, Wilma earned massive acclaim at film festivals all around the world.

The film won the Special Jury Prize at the 2020 Flickerfest in Sydney, the Audience Award at the 2019 Luststeifen Film Festival and the Best Original Screenplay Award at the 2019 Face á Face Festival in France. It was also nominated for Best Short Film at the Icelandic Film and Television Awards. In fact, this short film has been so successful that Bjorgvinsson is currently working on a feature-length adaptation.

Wilma is available now on Dekkoo.

Short Film Spotlight: Malik

A hard-hitting 15-minute short film from French writer-director Nathan Carli, Malik concerns two men who are looking to make a better life for themselves, but find that escape is more difficult than either of them had hoped.

Malik and his boyfriend live in a low-income neighborhood that is less than accommodating to their lifestyle. The local homophobic attitudes have made their day-to-day lives unsafe.

They have formed a plan and attempt to flee the city, but Malik’s older brother Walid and his gang refuse to let them get away easily. What begins as an attempt to escape to greener pastures soon becomes a desperate run for their lives.

An intense drama, Malik has earned acclaim at film festivals and is now available to Dekkoo subscribers.

Enjoy three unique short films from up-and-coming Spanish director Manu Roma

Manu Roma is an up-and-coming filmmaker from Barcelona who uses his work to tell personal queer stories. To give you a strong sense of his burgeoning talent, we have collected his first three short films, all made over the past three years.

First up is Bones, a 9-minute film about Victor, a 20-year-old with two immediate goals: to lose his virginity and, more dangerously, lose as much weight as possible before his 21st birthday.

Shot gorgeously in black and white, Roma’s next short, the 19-minute Anonymous, uses a first-person perspective to tell the stories of three men who go cruising for sex in different locations around Barcelona.

The final film, The Virgins, is a 13-minute slice of meta-fiction about the making of a short film. When the two stars of a new movie drop out at the last minute, the director and his boom operator find themselves taking over the lead roles and going to unexpected romantic lengths to tell their story.

A visionary filmmaker worth keeping your eye on, Dekkoo is proud to bring the work of Manu Roma to American audiences.

Bones, Anonymous and The Virgins are all available now on Dekkoo.