Category: Adolescence

Short Film Spotlight: The Touching

A hidden secret borne of mutual self-discovery hides behind the bedroom door of brothers David and Marek (Herman Tajovský and Krystof Brand).

Though it all starts out as relatively innocent experimentation, Marek starts to feel that their curiosity has crossed the limits of brotherly love. When he begins to distance himself, the younger David struggles to understand why his beloved older brother’s attitude has suddenly shifted.

A mesmerizing 39-minute short film from Czech writer-director Dominik György, The Touching has a timeless quality that fits perfectly with the narrative’s boyhood coming-of-age themes. Filmed in black and white in a 1.33 aspect ratio, the film feels like it could have been made during just about any time over the last sixty years.

Handling deeply uncomfortable subject matter with intelligence, style and grace, the film earned numerous awards at festivals all around the world – and marked György as a distinct cinematic voice worth keeping an eye on. As of now, his resume only includes shorts, but we can’t wait to see what he’s able to do with a feature length film.

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

Norbert Leo Butz and Cheri Oteri star in the poignant gay family dramedy ‘Give or Take’

Losing a parent or loved one is never easy, but it’s even more difficult when the relationship is already strained. In Give or Take, an open-hearted family dramedy from director Paul Riccio, a young man learns to reconcile the anger he feels toward his late father with a little help from an unlikely ally.

Co-writer Jamie Effros stars are Martin, a disillusioned New Yorker who travels back to his Cape Code home in the wake of his father’s passing. Once there, he works to settle his dad’s estate and prepare his childhood house for sale.

The situation is made tricky when he comes face-to-face with troubling memories, old friends he wished to leave behind and, perhaps most notably, his father’s late-in-life, live-in boyfriend Ted (played by two-time Tony Award winner Norbert Leo Butz).

With few walls to separate them, Martin and Ted must learn to put their differences aside and negotiate how they’re willing to honor the memory of the man they both loved… in very different ways.

Co-starring ‘Saturday Night Live’ alum Cheri Oteri, Give or Take is a funny and deeply heartfelt family comedy about love, loss, empathy, acceptance and what it truly means to come home.

Watch the trailer for Give or Take below. The film is now streaming on Dekkoo.

The queer indie classic ‘Wild Tigers I Have Known’ comes to Dekkoo

Visionary director Cam Archer is a master at portraying the lives of teens in awkward gay love.

Originally released in 2006, Wild Tigers I Have Known was a hit at the Sundance Film Festival – as well as countless LGBTQ+ film festivals all around the globe. The film stars Malcolm Stumpf as Logan, a middle schooler who is crushing on an older classmate named Rodeo (Patrick White). As the pair spend time together, Logan’s infatuation grows.

Exploring gender fluidity for the first time, he invents a female persona named ‘Leah’ and starts making sexually provocative phone calls to Rodeo at night, hoping to get even closer to the object of his affection. Meanwhile, wild mountain lions have been straying into the populated areas of town. When one happens to wander onto the school’s campus and is shot dead, it signifies an important moment in Logan’s coming-of-age.

For the film’s 15th Anniversary, indie distribution label Altered Innocence put together a restored version of this long-unavailable experimental queer classic.

Kim Dickens and Fairuza Balk co-star in this wildly inventive, achingly sympathetic ode to the highs and lows of adolescent love.

Watch the trailer for Wild Tigers I Have Known below. The newly restored version is now streaming on Dekkoo.

A father goes to great lengths to protect his son in the gripping drama ‘You’ll Never Be Alone’

Accomplished Chilean actor Sergio Hernández stars in You’ll Never Be Alone as Juan, the quiet, introverted manager of a mannequin factory who is hoping to be made partner after 25 years of devoted service.

At home, his 18-year-old son, Pablo (Andrew Bargsted), has dreams of stardom, studying dance at a respected art school. In addition to teaching neighborhood children choreographed dance numbers and clubbing with his best girlfriend on the weekends, Pablo’s life revolves around performing, auditioning and occasionally sneaking around to sleep with another boy from the neighborhood.

While Pablo and his widowed, hard-working dad don’t have a whole lot in common, neither seems to let that get in the way of caring for each other. Everything changes, however, when Pablo is brutally attacked by a group of homophobic kids.

With legal action and medical insurance proving costly, Juan makes the desperate decision to start seeking out his own form of justice.

Based on true events, this impressive debut film from musician Alex Anwandter tells a gripping story of betrayal and redemption. You’ll Never Be Alone is a stirring testament to a father’s love and a powerful treatise on Chile’s generational divide.

Watch the trailer for You’ll Never Be Alone below. The film is now streaming on Dekkoo.

Short Film Spotlight: One Like Him

A Jordanian man must find a way to tell his childhood friend and first love the truth about what happened twenty years ago, when a single moment changed both of their lives. When he can’t find the words, their conversation repeats, becoming increasingly surreal… until he loses control.

From director Caitlin French McLeod, One Like Him is a stirring 16-minute short about how the past influences the present.

Rooted in love and framed within a queer, Arab lens, the film is about how we grapple with the narratives imposed on us and how we must build our own narratives to express who we truly are – all while overcoming judgement, letting go of internalized shame and turning inwards to look for the answers.

Gorgeously crafted, One Like Him was screened at countless festivals worldwide, including multiple BAFTA and Academy Awards-qualifying events, picking up numerous awards along the way.

Watch a teaser for One Like Him below. The short film is now streaming on Dekkoo.

‘The Harvesters’ explores sexuality, masculinity, and religion in a conservative farming community

The Harvesters follows Janno (Brent Vermeulen), a South African teen from a very particular type of family. His parents are deeply invested in religion, white Afrikaner solidarity and their farm. A sensitive boy, Janno’s interests lie elsewhere.

When his parents decide to bring a troubled, but charismatic kid named Pieter (Alex van Dyk) into the household, a struggle for dominance soon ensues.

As Pieter slyly draws various family members under his spell, Janno begins to sense that he’s being replaced as the favored son. The boys soon start a dangerous fight for power, heritage and parental love that will change both of their lives forever.

A stirring, subtly homoerotic take on the myth of Cain and Abel, The Harvesters explores repressed sexuality, religion and masculinity in the deep South African countryside. The feature-length debut of Greek-African filmmaker Etienne Kallosis, the film offers up tense and pitiless drama about the intersection of familial and cultural dynamics.

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

Director Bertrand Mandico offers up a visually stunning queer allegory with ‘The Wild Boys’

The Wild Boys, the debut feature from prolific French short film director Bertrand Mandico, is ready to blow your mind.

Set on a small island at the beginning of the 20th century, the film tells the tale of five adolescent boys (all played by female-identifying actresses) who come from wealthy families, but find themselves increasingly drawn to the occult.

Looking to explore lives of crime and transgression, the group collectively commits a brutal crime – aided by ‘Trevor,’ a strange deity of chaos they can’t seem to control.

The boys are soon punished, forced to board a boat with a lecherous sea captain who is hell-bent on taming their ferocious appetites. They arrive on a lush island where dangers and pleasures abound… and the boys start to transform in both mind and body.

Gorgeously shot on 16mm and brimming with homoeroticism, genderfluidity and sly, subversive humor, The Wild Boys will take you on a heady, hedonistic journey you won’t soon forget. It’s a colorful, unique and strangely funny underground queer masterpiece.

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