Category: Adolescence

New This Week – 5/28/21

Twin 18-year-olds hitchhike to their mother’s funeral in Spain. The journey changes their lives forever. ‘Give Me Your Hand’ is available to stream now on Dekkoo!

Two men who have an unacknowledged relationship five years ago meet each other during the pandemic. Will they finally have a happy ending or a mother’s love get in the way to protect her son? Watch ‘Memories of Forgetting’ now on Dekkoo!

After drinking the California kool-aid, Ronnie decides to reinvent himself and move to LA. He soon discovers he has been forced down a path with no return. Stream the short film ‘You’ve Changed’ now on Dekkoo!

On one particular night, Jason drunkenly confesses his feelings to Daniel, irreparably changing their relationship forever. ‘Good Seeing You’ is available now on Dekkoo!

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Coming next week: Two unmoored men in the chilly Chilean boondocks find warmth and solace in each other.

A touching family bond is explored in the new documentary Madame

The touching new documentary Madame is a double portrait of a young boy slowly coming out of the closet and of the lady that was, even more than his own mother, the woman of his life – his grandmother.

Based on private archival footage, Madame takes us onto an intimate journey where Caroline, a flamboyant 90-year-old grandmother and her filmmaker grandson Stéphane explore the development and transmission of gender identity in a patriarchal environment.

Promised to a domestic life in the 1920s, Caroline manages to free herself from the clutches of a forced marriage and becomes a successful businesswoman, defying the social rules of her time.

In parallel, Stéphane struggles to play the role everyone expects in his Swiss bourgeois family, until the day he comes out of the closet and sets off on a crusade against homophobia and sexism.

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

New This Week – 4/22/21

Colm is a married man with two teenage children. Grieving after a family tragedy, he finds himself unable to share his conflicted feelings with his family. When he meets Jay, a seductive younger hustler, he finally finds the comfort he’s been craving – and begins to form an unusual infatuation with this much younger man. ‘Rialto’ is available to stream now on Dekkoo!

Following his first Grammy nomination, a young, gay rock star is confronted with the painful price of his ambition. Watch ‘Fall to Fame’ now on Dekkoo!

This sharp, surreal thriller follows a shy film student named Davi, who spends most of his life looking through a lens. When he meets an alluring man who brings him out of his shell, the young voyeur’s sudden sexual awakening is threatened by a spate of gruesome murders connected to his troubled past. ‘My Dead Ones’ is available to stream on Dekkoo!

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Coming next week: A sexy new romantic comedy about falling out of love.

Now Available: More Than Only

Justin (Jonathan Miles) knew he was gay from a very young age, but he was not allowed to act upon it. Finally in college and free from having his every move watched, he seeks out what it is he feels he wants… until he discovers what he needs.

When Justin acts out recklessly – again, after the bi-semester check in phone call with his dominating and controlling father – he causes enough personal injury to require yet another ER visit. It is in the ER, on this specific night, he meets Michael (Bjorn Anderson), a male nurse.

As a result of his father’s overt homophobia, Justin has never quite been able to love or accept himself, let alone another person. It’s not until his relationship with Michael begins to blossom that he sees a potential “happily ever after” at the end of a dark tunnel.

Written and directed by Michelle Leigh, this touching indie follows one troubled young man learning how to love himself and accept love from another.

Watch the trailer for More Than Only below. The film is available now on Dekkoo.

A lost teen searches for himself in the unique Italian indie Ernesto

Ernesto (Federico Russo) is a teenager who wanders, in search of himself, through the streets of Rome.

Chapter after chapter, time passes – and people just seem to disappear. But he continues to live impromptu relationships, causing pain to himself and to others. Taking refuge in his happy moments and in political ideologies, he believes he can save his soul from suffering… although life will force him to grow and move forward.

Directed by partners Alice De Luca and Giacomo Raffaelli under their joint creative banner Freeres, Ernesto was shot in the 4:3 aspect ratio to give viewers a sense of the fragments of the lead character’s life – as if the film you’re watching were a lengthy re-working of the protagonist’s own memories.

A sexy, smart and wildly unique film, Ernesto is available now on Dekkoo. Watch the trailer below.

Short Film Spotlight: Verona

Inspired by William Shakespeare’s Romeo and Juliet, Verona is the story of two young lovers separated by their rival fraternities.

Set in a small college town wherein young men are groomed for corporate success in All-American hyper competitive fashion, Verona presents the fate of star-crossed lovers in a society that condemns the very nature of their love.

Directed by Laurie Lynd (Breakfast with Scot), Verona features star actors known from DeGrassi, All My Children, The Best Years, Paradise Falls, Diary of a Wimpy Kid, Queer As Folk and more. This post-modern retelling of the greatest love story ever told brings to light the homophobic/homo-erotic dual nature of fraternity life, its perks and perils.

Verona was shot as something of a calling-card, to pave the way for public, private and corporate interest in a full-length feature film version. The project is one of passion for all those involved, hoping to present the nature of love in its truest form – and it shows.

Verona is available now on Dekkoo. Watch the trailer below.

Now Available: Nevrland

In the dark, sexy, psychological coming-of-age drama Nevrland, 17-year-old Jakob (Simon Frühwirth) struggles with crippling anxiety and takes refuge in the Internet. While on a cam-to-cam chat site, he meets 26-year-old artist Kristjan (Paul Forman)… and soon nothing in his life will be quite the same.

Caught between reality and fantasy, youth and adulthood, Jakob’s blurry process of sexual awakening is a psychedelic trip of hot, strange hallucinatory sequences of desire and madness that will bring you to the edge of your seat.

With vivid imagery and atmospherically dense scenes, director Gregor Schmidinger shows the process of sexual awakening and self-discovery as an existential journey in which the borders between reality and fantasy become increasingly blurred.

Along with Simon Früwirth as Jakob in his debut acting role, the cast also includes the Austrian star stand-up comedian and actor Josef Hader as Jakob’s stoic father.

Nevrland is a well-founded depth psychological coming-of-age film about the courage it takes to be oneself and the often daunting fear blocking the way.

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

New This Week – 3/19/21

Ernesto is a teenager who wanders, in search of himself, through the streets of Rome, beginning impromptu relationships and causing pain to himself and to others… until life forces him to grow up and face some hard truths. ‘Ernesto’ is available exclusively on Dekkoo!

It is the last day before Victor has to move to another city with his parents. So he and his best friend Robert do all the things they liked to do together so much: skateboarding, spraying, hanging out. But something is different this time. ‘Reel’ is streaming now on Dekkoo!

These nine short films from director Roberto Perez Toledo feature stories of connections and missed opportunities with an appearance from cupid, a zombie couple, and a secret admirer. ‘The Films of Roberto Perez Toledo’ are available now on Dekkoo!

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Coming next week: While shooting a film in a small town, a famous actor puts his personal life and career in jeopardy by starting an intense affair with another man.

New This Week – 3/12/21

Interior designer and reality show star Farleigh Knock has a knack for keeping beautiful things, including Adonis-like Dennis, around his home. So when Farleigh gives him an unthinkable ultimatum for his 30th birthday–to get a job or get out–Dennis goes from Kept Boy to Lost Man. ‘Kept Boy’ is available now on Dekkoo!

This portrait chronicles life on the streets as seen through the eyes of a cross-dressing, homeless man named Leslie Cochran, one of the most beloved yet polarizing cult figures of Austin, Texas. Told with unapologetic humor, Leslie’s bizarre meteoric rise to iconic status is starkly contrasted with living life on his own terms in a changing world. Stream ‘Becoming Leslie’ now on Dekkoo!

‘Verona’ is the story of two young lovers separated by their rival fraternities. ‘Verona’ is available now on Dekkoo!

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Coming next week: Dekkoo Films presents a new gay film about a young man, in search of himself, discovering the streets of Rome.

New This Week – 2/26/21

17-year-old Jakob wants nothing more than to feel alive. Uncontrollable anxiety attacks prevent him from doing so and force him to escape into virtual worlds. One night, he meets 26-year-old Kristjan in a cam chat. Their encounter marks the beginning of a transpersonal journey to the wounds of their souls. ‘Nevrland’ is available to stream now on Dekkoo!

Two high school sweethearts, Luke and Jonah, spend their final months together over the course of a long, quiet summer in the rural South–a world of baseball, bicycles, church and green bean casserole–contemplating their uncertain future and the uncertain future of America. Stream ‘Last Summer’ now on Dekkoo!

Eduardo, a snob publicist who lives cranky most of the day and David, a shy student of literature are neighbors in a building under construction. After six months of hardly a greeting a scaffold intercedes between them causing unexpected reactions in each. ‘Scaffolding’ is streaming now on Dekkoo!

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Coming next week: A young dancer living in his small village has to face the loss of his beloved friend, the victim of an attack in a gay club.