Category: Adolescence

New This Week – 1/1/21

In this affecting, bittersweet comedy, a rising young filmmaker is thrown into emotional turmoil by a burgeoning romance and the upcoming premiere of his second feature. ‘Benjamin’ is available to stream now on Dekkoo!

Love is complicated; so is betrayal. There are many difficult questions to ask yourself in your soul’s darkest hour. But there is only one simple rule to follow when you have finally decided to get rid of your wife’s lover: make sure you find a hitman who is not the chatty kind. Stream ‘By the End of the Week’ now on Dekkoo!

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Coming next week: When there’s nowhere left to hide, the music will find you.

Short Film Spotlight: Shadow Animals

In the new Swedish short film Shadow Animals, a young girl (Ayla Turin) follows her parents to a party where she experiences assorted grown-up rituals. As the evening progresses she finds the adults’ behavior increasingly strange. Everyone tries to fit in, but not everyone succeeds.

Skillfully mixing kitchen-sink social drama with over-the-top surrealism, Shadow Animals manages to pinpoint the illogical adult world that makes childhood something deeply serious.

Writer-director Jerry Carlsson has created a fascinatingly weird dance-based drama about the discovery of human behavior.

Watch the trailer for Shadow Animals below to get a sense of what the film has up its sleeve. It’s now available on Dekkoo.

No Hard Feelings is a must-see new romance!

The critically-acclaimed, Teddy Award-winning must-see romance No Hard Feelings tells a story about re-discovering one’s past and building a future together.

Parvis (Benny Radjaipour), the son of exiled Iranians, copes with life in his small hometown by indulging himself with pop culture, Grindr dates, and raves. After being caught shoplifting, he is sentenced to community service at a refugee shelter where he meets siblings Banafshe (Banafshe Hourmazdi) and Amon (Eidin Jalali), who have fled Iran.

As a romantic attraction between Parvis and Amon grows, the fragile relationship between the three is put to a test. They find and lose each other throughout a summer of fleeting youth, an intense first love, an attempt at a joint future, as well as the stark realisation that, in Germany, they are not equal.

Growing up in Cologne the son of exiled Iranis himself, writer-director Faraz Shariat studied media art to explore his experiences as a gay, second generation migrant. In his work, Faraz often attempts to re-inhabit his own history and build a visual archive of migration in Germany. No Hard Feelings is one of his most treasured works yet.

Watch the trailer for No Hard Feelings below. The film is now available on Dekkoo.

New This Week – 12/25/20

A ’70s-set homoerotic prison drama based on a low-circulated pulp novel, tracking the sexual, often-violent and eventually murderous experiences of 20-something narcissist Jaime. ‘The Prince’ is available to stream now on Dekkoo!

A young girl follows her two dads to a party where she experiences assorted grown-up rituals. As the evening progresses she finds the adults’ behavior increasingly strange. Everyone tries to fit in, but not everyone succeeds. Watch ‘Shadow Animals’ now on Dekkoo!

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Coming next week: Inspired by first-time feature filmmaker Simon Amstell’s own experiences, this film is a heartfelt ode to the search for human connection.

His is a heartfelt romance from prolific Japanese director Rikiya Imaizumi

Nagisa (Kisetsu Fujiwara) and Shun (Hio Miyazawa) first met one another and fell in love when they were teenagers in high school. Thirteen years have now passed since they last saw one another.

Even though he now lives in Australia with his wife and child, Nagisa has never been able to let the memory of his first love fade. When difficulties begin to arise within his marriage, he is reminded more of those early day than ever. He decides to return to Japan with his daughter in tow – and to reunite with Shun to see if their connection is still as strong.

Though their love story may be pure, the hopeful pair must survive discrimination and prejudice in order to live together as a happy family.

From accomplished Japanese director Rikiya Imaizumi, the gorgeous new romance His is a heartfelt exploration of custody and long-lost love.

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

New This Week – 11/27/20

A polyamorous male couple test the limits of a restrictive society when they become romantically entangled with a beautiful young woman. ‘The Taste of Betel Nut’ is now available to stream on Dekkoo!

A seemingly pious Hasidic man living a secret double life misplaces his black hat one night which will cause his two separate lives to collide in a way he never imagined. Watch ‘Black Hat’ now on Dekkoo!

John Curry transformed ice skating from a dated sport into an exalted art form. Coming out on the night of his 1976 Olympic win, he became the first openly gay Olympian in a time when homosexuality was not fully legal. Ferociously ambitious yet bent on self-destruction, Curry was an artist and an athlete whose body time and again – sometimes against his will – became a political battlefield. ‘The Ice King’ is available to stream now on Dekkoo!

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Coming next week – Dekkoo Films present a new original short film from the winner of our ‘Love & Distance’ short film competition!

Alan Cumming and Garret Dillahunt fight for their right to be parents in the acclaimed drama Any Day Now

Set in Los Angeles in 1978, the gripping drama Any Day Now stars Alan Cumming and Garret Dillahunt as a brave couple who must fight for their right to be parents.

When singer, Rudy Donatello (Cumming) meets ambitious lawyer, Paul Fliger (Dillahunt), little do they know they are about to embark on the biggest and most important journey of their lives.

When Rudy’s neighbor is arrested and sent to jail, the couple take in her teenage son, Marco (Isaac Leyva) and they quickly become the family that Marco has always wanted. But when their alternative living arrangements are exposed, the family become subject to prejudice from everyone around them. The pair then becomes embroiled in a fight against a biased legal system to keep the child they have come to love as their own.

Winner of numerous international audience awards and inspired by a touching true story, Any Day Now is an emotional drama, which resonates on a universal level and reminds us of the importance of never giving up.

Watch the trailer for Any Day Now below. The film is streaming now on Dekkoo.

Don’t miss the acclaimed, decades-spanning French miniseries Proud

In 1981, it was still illegal to be gay in France. Today, same-sex marriage is recognized and has paved the way for legalizing the adoption of children by LGBTQ families.

With stories set in 1981, 1999 and 2013, the epic, critically-acclaimed three-part French miniseries Proud tells the story of Charles (Frédéric Pierrot), Victor (Samuel Theis) and Diego (Julien Lopez), three generations of people from the same family who represent the seismic social changes that took place in just three decades.

Created by Philippe Faucon, the award-winning director of Fatima (the 2016 Cesar winner for Best Film), this episodic cinematic event is a chronology of tolerance and a portrait of one family through changing times.

Watch the trailer for Proud below. All three episodes are available now on Dekkoo.

New This Week – 10/23/20

In 1981, love was forbidden. In 1999, starting a family seemed impossible. By 2013, everything had changed. From Philippe Faucon, the award-winning director of Fatima, this amazing new three-part cinematic event takes us through each of these years. ‘Proud’ tells the stories of Charles, Victor and Diego, three generations of the same family who represent the seismic social changes that took place in just three decades. ‘Proud’ is available to watch now on Dekkoo!

One morning it is over. For Hampus it is a relief to break up from their destructive relationship, while Adrian is devastated. Will he be able to survive without the love of his life, or is there a way of somehow getting him back? ‘Are We Lost Forever’ is available exclusively on Dekkoo!

Friends Adam and Luke are the life of the party. When they decide that Luke should host a party at his house, what was meant to be a night of fun without responsibilities turns out to be a nightmare for Adam. Stream ’46’ now on Dekkoo!

After a shocking election puts a bigot into the Vice Presidency, Ethan must grapple with his fear of the future for the LGBT community and decide how far he’s willing to go to fight it. ‘Snowflake’ is streaming now on Dekkoo!

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Coming next week: The new Dekkoo-original series ‘Soul Mate’ debuts.

Two men embark on a revelatory road trip in Drive Me Home

When Antonio (Vinicio Marchioni) and Agostino (Marco D’Amore) were growing up together in a small town in Sicily, they each dreamt of living completely different lives… somewhere else. Now thirty-year-olds, their initial dreams have somewhat come true. They both live abroad, but they lost touch many years ago.

When Antonio discovers that the house he grew up in, which had been empty for a long time, is about to be sold at auction, he decides to start revisiting some of his past and reconnects with his childhood friend in the process. When Antonio and Agostino come back together, they find that their lives have changed a lot. Soon, during a road trip through Europe to reclaim the childhood property in question, old conflicts and new revelations rise to the surface, bringing them close together once again.

From writer-director Simone Catania and co-writer Fabio Natale, Drive Me Home tells a generational story about finding a place called home… wherever you are. It’s also a refreshing story about straight-gay male friendship not often seen.

Watch the trailer for Drive Me Home below. The film is now available on Dekkoo.