Category: Award Winner

Exploring Allen Ginsberg’s Howl: A Cinematic Journey

From Academy Award-winning documentarians Rob Epstein and Jeffrey Friedman, filmmakers behind celebrated queer classics like The Celluloid Closet and The Times of Harvey Milk, the 2010 docudrama Howl bends genres to depict the story behind the literary revolution that was Allen Ginsberg’s “Howl.”

James Franco stars as a young Ginsberg on the precipice of making waves with his incendiary, culture-shifting poem.

The film takes us to a famous reading of “Howl” at the Six Gallery, a recreation of an unpublished interview allegedly given to Time in 1957 and the poem’s infamous obscenity trial.

We’re also witness to the beginnings of Ginsberg’s relationship with lover, Peter Orlovsky, played by “Gossip Girl” alum Aaron Tveit. Featuring an impressive supporting cast – including David Strathairn, Jon Hamm, Jeff Daniels, Treat Williams and Mary-Louise Parker – Howl offers up a fascinating and idiosyncratic portrait of an epic literary work and its iconoclastic creator.

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

Exploring Sexuality in the Digital Age: My Sweet Prince

In a smoke-filled basement, lit only by the flicker of a screen and the occasional orange glow of a spliff, a teen boy named Tommy (Yoni Roodner) sits detached from his friends, paralyzed by the fear of his own sexuality.

Afraid of the intense attraction he feels towards his male friends, he chooses to forgo physical company and instead seeks out anonymized friendships online, carefully muffling the dial-up sound of the router for midnight chat sessions with his pen pal and confidant on MSN Messenger.

Set during the early days of the internet, My Sweet Prince, a clever short written and directed by London-based filmmaker Jason Bradbury, uses segments from the filmmaker’s own teenage VHS diaries, shot during childhood summers at his home on the Isle of Wight. This footage is spliced together alongside the fictional story of Tommy, a young boy wrestling with doubt and uncertainty while finding solace in the virtual company of his online crush.

Looking back at at a very particular moment in time, My Sweet Prince subtly examines how the internet’s arrival catalyzed an unprecedented set of formative experiences for a guinea pig generation of youngsters.

Watch the trailer for My Sweet Prince below. The short film is now streaming on Dekkoo.

A Big Gay Hairy Hit: Celebrating Bears in Hollywood

A hilarious and deeply touching documentary feature, A Big Gay Hairy Hit (also known as Where the Bears Are: The Documentary) tells the story of how three older gay ‘bears,’ working in Hollywood and tired of having their gay-themed ideas rejected by the mainstream, decided to self-produce their own independent web series.

Blending “The Golden Girls” with “Murder She Wrote,” the comedy series they created centers around three bear roommates who solve crimes.

Against all odds, Where the Bears Are became a sensation with gay audiences, running for seven seasons while becoming one of the most successful scripted web series of all time.

Featuring lead actors and creators Rick Copp, Joe Dietl, and Ben Zook, this retrospective documentary examines ageism, body-shaming, sex-positivity, the creative process and how friendship can deliver a finished product that is beloved all over the world.

Watch the trailer for A Big Gay Hairy Hit below. The documentary is now streaming on Dekkoo.

Front Cover: A Heartfelt LGBTQ+ Love Story

Ryan (Jake Choi) is a handsome fashion stylist living in New York City. He openly rejects his traditional Asian-American upbringing, fearing that it will prevent him from enjoying his life as an openly gay man.

Everything starts to change, however, when Ryan is given an assignment and begins working with Ning (James Chen), a famous and alluring Chinese actor.

Despite a rocky start, an unlikely romance develops between the two, leading Ryan to re-examine his roots and consider an enticing new path for his career, as well as his love life.

With Front Cover, Ray Yeung, the acclaimed director behind Cut Sleeve Boys, All Shall Be Well and Twilight’s Kiss, crafts a tender and entertaining look at clashing cultures and the ultimate triumph of romance, guaranteed to make you swoon.

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

Exploring Grief: The Journey in Warm Smooth Mean

An emotional and gorgeously shot 14-minute drama from director Jess Maldaner and screenwriter Mark Allen, Warm Smooth Mean concerns a grieving son digging into his famous father’s mysterious past.

The short film follows Hunter Nelson (William McKinney), a brooding young man troubled by the suicide of his father, River Nelson. Before his death, River was one half of a legendary country western duo called Silent Station.

When Hunter receives an unexpected royalty check from his father’s work, he embarks on a journey to find the mysterious Jerry Lee McCoy (Cameron Dye), his father’s former bandmate, and pass along the money.

Finally coming face to face with Jerry, Hunter is surprised to find himself rudely rebuffed. He sets forth attempting to break down the older man’s defenses and to finally get some answers about what was behind his father’s untimely passing years ago.

Check out the poster for Warm Smooth Mean below. The short film is now streaming on Dekkoo!

A man looking down, wearing a dark denim jacket, with soft light coming through a window in the background. The image features text that reads '20 YEARS AGO TODAY COUNTRY LEGEND RIVER NELSON LEFT US... WARM SMOOTH MEAN'.

Head to the beach with ‘The Best Friend,’ a sexy, vibrant and romantic new gay musical!

Set at a bright and beautiful Brazilian beachside, The Best Friend follows Lucas (Vinicius Teixeira), a handsome young architect who is in a crisis with his boyfriend. On vacation, he spots Felipe (Gabriel Fuentes), an alluring former school crush who is now working as a local tour guide.

Hidden desires are soon re-awakened. In this musical paradise, Lucas surrenders to the pursuit of liberating intimacy while Felipe loses himself in colorful nights and a variety of willing partners.

Will these two men find happiness and love together under the scorching Brazilian sun? As nostalgic pop music of the 1980s and ’90s fuel spontaneous song and dance, the pair explore reconciliation, jealousy, and self-discovery.

From writer-director Allan Deberton, The Best Friend is a vibrant gay musical, blending romance and rhythm within the coastal paradise of Brazil while celebrating gay love with lighthearted charm and infectious energy.

Watch the trailer for The Best Friend below. The film is now available exclusively on Dekkoo!

Don’t miss ‘Joyland,’ a critically-acclaimed, award-winning queer romance from Pakistan

Banned in its home country of Pakistan, the critically-acclaimed Joyland explores the many sides of love and desire in a patriarchal society.

Gentle and timid, Haider (Ali Junejo) lives with his wife, his father, his elder brother, pregnant sister-in-law and their three daughters in Lahore, Pakistan. As the family eagerly anticipates the birth of a baby boy to continue their family line, Haider secretly takes a job as a background dancer at an erotic theatre.

The unusual position shakes up the steadfast traditional dynamics of his household and enables Haider to break out of his shell. He also finds himself intrinsically drawn to Biba (Alina Khan), the strong-willed trans woman who runs the show.

Soon, Haider and Biba fall into a secret summer romance, which opens his eyes and ultimately his worldview, in ways unexpected, intimate, and heartbreaking.

Writer-director Saim Sadiq calls Joyland “an homage to all the women, men and trans people who pay the human cost of patriarchy.” It is also a celebration of the desire that creates unlikely bonds and the love that immortalizes them.

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

Acclaimed filmmaker Eytan Fox explores queer life in Tel Aviv in ‘The Bubble’

From Eytan Fox, the director behind Sublet, Walk on Water and and the beloved 2002 romance Yossi and Jagger, The Bubble follows a trio of charming and sexy Israeli twenty-somethings who share an apartment in Tel Aviv’s hippest district.

The group includes the idealistic Lulu (Daniella Wircer), the goofy and flamboyant Yali (Alon Freidman) and the moody Noam (Ohad Knoller), who works in a record store when he’s not doing dispiriting reserve duty at a Palestinian checkpoint.

They love their carefree lives inside Tel Aviv’s “bubble,” where the strains of a violent outside world are kept at bay. But the bubble is threatened, and nearly bursts, when Noam hooks up with and gradually falls in love with Ashraf (Yousef ‘Joe’ Sweid), a young Palestinian man who cannot legally work or reside within the borders of Tel Aviv.

Seeing Ashraf’s situation as a chance to act on their principles of peaceful coexistence, the three roommates go to great lengths attempting to smuggle Ashraf into their home. How their ideals run headlong into tragic realities forms the core tension of this smart, keenly felt drama – originally released in 2006 to great acclaim on the international film festival circuit.

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

An actor discovers the seedy underbelly of L.A. in the short gay classic ‘The Blue Boy’

An aspiring young actor discovers the seedier side of Los Angeles in director Ray Vecchiola’s provocative 25-minute short film The Blue Boy.

Matt (Carlo Angelo), a 20-something, leather jacket-clad hunk, insists that he’s straight, but has been working in gay porn to pay the bills. Frustrated with his cocaine-addled girlfriend Diane (Susan Nichols), he starts spending more and more time within the scene.

He soon forms a connection with a wealthy older benefactor (Scott McKinley), who teaches him about the finer things in life in exchange for sexual favors.

Becoming increasingly more confused about his identity, Matt ends up burning bridges with almost everyone in his life, finding himself with fewer and fewer places to turn.

The Blue Boy was originally released to LGBTQ+ film festivals back in 1997. With shades of Cruising and Boogie Nights, the film is a fascinating artifact of an earlier time in the depiction of sex work in cinema.

Long thought to be lost, The Blue Boy is now available for new audiences to discover on Dekkoo. Watch a short clip from the film below..

Short Film Spotlight: The Cutest and Funniest Animals In The World

70-year-old Jorge (Paulo Goya) is one of the most capricious and dedicated janitors at the Paradise Motel, except for one single detail: he secretly records audio of the guests from within their rooms.

Jorge derives great pleasure from this illegal act, particularly when the recordings are of a sexual nature. He also sells the recordings to Alberto (Wilson Rabelo), an elderly client driven by a similar fetish. Furthermore, he delights in the excitement the material can provoke while inventing specific details and effectively controlling the narrative of younger people’s sex lives.

As the two men explore their passions and descend deeper into a shared fantasy world, their fascinations grow increasingly morbid.

A bold short from Brazilian filmmaker Renato Sircilli, The Cutest and Funniest Animals in the World attracted attention during its run at film festivals for its provocative, boundary-pushing narrative and for its frank representation of the sex lives of two 70-year-old gay men.

Watch a short trailer for The Cutest and Funniest Animals in the World below. The film is now available on Dekkoo.