Category: Award Winner

A Brooklyn barber embarks on a hot and sweaty journey of self-discovery in ‘Barrio Boy’

Set during a hot and sultry New York City summer, Barrio Boy stars Dennis Garcia as Quique (pronounced KEE-kay), a Nuyorican barber living in a rapidly changing Brooklyn neighborhood who embarks on an erotically-charged odyssey of self-discovery.

A chance encounter on a basketball court sparks an instant attraction between Quique and Kevin (James Physick), a handsome Irish stranger who is passing through town to settle his late father’s affairs.

As a friendship blossoms between the two young men, so do suspicions about the nature of their relationship – especially to the jealous eye of Cuz (Keet Davis), Quique’s childhood friend turned local bully.

Quique’s quest for love and self-acceptance is further realized as he navigates his way through complex and often messy layers of sexuality, family, friends, race and class.

The truth will prevail in this thoughtful gay drama from Emmy-winning writer-director Dennis Shinners. He marks his feature-length debut here after a series of successful short films, including the 2013 short Barrio Boy which served as the inspiration for this film.

Watch the trailer for Barrio Boy below. The film is now streaming on Dekkoo!

Don’t miss the gorgeous and enthralling road-movie romance ‘The Man with the Answers’

The Man with the Answers first introduces us to Victor (Vasilis Magouliotis), a hunky, twenty-something ex-diving champion now working in a furniture factory and living with his sick grandmother in a seaside town in Greece.

Distraught after her death, he decides to dust off her old car and travel to Germany to visit his estranged mother. On the ferry to Italy, he meets the dreamy Matthias (Anton Weil) – a talkative, inquisitive young German who is on his way home.

Matthias persuades Victor to take him along for the journey. As the pair drive north, Victor’s uptight, repressive personality clashes with the more free-spirited Matthias. But they soon find common emotional ground as their summer road trip takes unexpected – and increasingly romantic – turns.

When their journey finally comes to an end, they’re confronted with the question of whether either has found the answers he’s looking for… and whether or not they can be found in one another.

Featuring terrific performances from sexy lead actors Magouliotis and Weil, The Man with the Answers tells a tender story of self-discovery, family and burgeoning love in all its many forms.

Watch the trailer for The Man with the Answers below. The film is now available on Dekkoo.

Louis Hofmann stars in the swoon-worthy young adult romance ‘Center of My World’

After a three-week stint at a French-language camp, high-schooler Phil (Louis Hofmann) returns home to find that his mother (Sabine Timoteo) and twin sister (Ada Philine Stappenbeck) aren’t speaking to one another.

Not willing to confront his family during the last days of the summer holidays, Phil escapes to hang out with his best friend, Kat (Svenja Jung), eating ice cream and playing dress-up.

As the school year begins, a new student arrives – the handsome and mysterious Nicholas (Jannik Schumann). Smitten, Phil watches his crush as he runs around the track after school, and is thrilled when Nicholas returns his feelings. However, when first love’s volatility comes to light, Phil realizes he must deal with the problems of his past in order to deal with the issues of his present.

Based on author Andreas Steinhofel’s award-winning young adult novel and featuring a swoon-worthy lead performance from Louis Hofmann, a super-cute German actor who has made an international splash over the past few years in popular shows like Masters of the Air, Dark and All the Light We Cannot See, Center of My World is a gorgeously-crafted, sun-kissed ode to friendship, family bonds and first love.

Watch the trailer for Center of My World below. The film is now streaming on Dekkoo.

A sex worker gets into a tricky relationship with an older man in the Belgian drama ‘All Yours’

Prolific actor Nahuel P̩rez Biscayart (Glue, Persian Lessons, BPM) stars in All Yours as Lucas, a young and penniless Argentine escort who moves to a small Belgian town with the help of Henry (Jean-Michel Balthazar), a lonely Рand much older Рgay bakery owner who dreams of saving him from a life of prostitution.

Henry fell completely head over heels for Lucas when he first spotted him as a web cam model. He bought Lucas a plane ticket hoping that he would not only help out in the bakery, but share his bed.

With very different ideas about living together, the two men find their personalities and expectations clashing. Things get even more tense when the predominately straight Lucas starts falling for Audrey (Monia Chokri), a single mother who also works for Henry.

A complicated love triangle soon develops in this tender, award-winning character study from acclaimed writer-director David Lambert.

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

Oscar nominee Colman Domingo stars in the profoundly moving 30-minute drama ‘North Star’

Colman Domingo, Malcolm Gets, Laura Innes and Kevin Bacon make up the primary cast of this astounding 30-minute short film that challenges the meanings of freedom, faith and family.

A winner of countless awards at film festivals all around the globe, North Star is easily one of the most acclaimed gay short films ever made.

Domingo, who also produced the film, stars as James, a rural rancher who makes incredible sacrifices to care for his dying husband – all while his zealot sister-in-law attempts to impose her will and a pair of televangelists peddle shame, fear, and division as the cornerstones of faith.

A deeply personal film by writer-director P.J. Palmer, based on his own experiences of being in same-gender, multi-cultural relationships, North Star is a profoundly emotional drama that will linger with you love after the credits roll.

Watch a short teaser trailer for North Star below. The film is now streaming on Dekkoo.

A mysterious drifter comes between two rich siblings in the stylish queer thriller ‘Palace of Fun’

After a chance meeting in a nightclub, a summer romance begins to develop between young lovers Lily and Finn (Phoebe Naughton and Andrew Mullan). Instantly smitten with one another and not looking to part ways too soon, Lily ends up inviting Finn to come stay with her at her parent’s opulent Sussex home.

As her folks are vacationing in Italy, the pair expect to have the estate all to themselves. Their alone time is broken, however, by the arrival of Lily’s mischievous brother Jamie (George Stocks).

When Jamie discovers a revealing secret about Finn on the internet, he uses it to blackmail the handsome young man into performing increasingly uncomfortable favors – playing a dangerous and sinister game with his sister’s new flame.

Paying knowing homage to Patricia Highsmith’s ‘Ripley’ novels, classic three-hander thrillers like Knife in the Water and even a little bit of Some Like it Hot, co-writer/director Eddie Stocks’ Palace of Fun is a smart and supremely tense sexually-charged thriller.

Watch the trailer for Palace of Fun below. The film is now streaming on Dekkoo.

The provocative queer punk classic ‘Fögi is a Bastard’ gets a brand-new HD restoration

Set in Zurich during the early 1970s and boasting a killer soundtrack that includes the likes of punk legends The Stooges and The Velvet Underground, Fögi is a Bastard is an unflinchingly honest depiction of teenage infatuation and obsession from director Marcel Gisler.

Vincent Branchet stars as Beni, a sensitive 15-year-old romantic who has become completely besotted by Fögi (Frederic Andrau), the super-sexy front man to a local punk outfit called The Minks.

The wide-eyed, seemingly innocent Beni – who begins his courting of Fögi with lovingly penned letters – is welcomed into the gay punk musician’s world of partying and playing gigs. However, as Fögi slowly drifts from an ambitious music career to the addictive world of drugs, a wedge forms in their relationship.

Soon enough, Beni has become a submissive “dog” in their relationship and also begins supporting his lover through sex work.

With its raw depiction of urban life, ghettoized youth, working class angst and kinky gay male sex without compromise, Fögi is a Bastard is a must see for fans of coming-of-age cinema with alternative queer teen sensibilities and aesthetics.

Originally released in 1998, the film has been given a brand-new restoration by the cult distribution label Altered Innocence. It’s now available to stream on Dekkoo. Watch the trailer below.

A weekend of mischief becomes a battle for survival in the stylish British thriller ‘B&B’

A gay couple pays a price for exercising their rights in this award-winning thriller from writer-director Joe Ahearne.

Sean Teale and Tom Bateman star in B&B as partners Fred and Marc. A year before the main events of the film, they were denied a room at St. Jude bed and breakfast by its fundamentalist Christian owner Josh (Paul McGann). They took the matter to court, won a discrimination suit and have now returned.

Though Fred would happily take the victory and move on, Marc is excited to rub some salt in Josh’s wound – insisting on sleeping as a married couple in the home of a man who has made his resentment known.

Events take a deadly turn when another guest, with far more sinister intentions, arrives. Marc and Fred’s weekend of fun turns into a suspenseful battle for survival.

With plenty of twists and turns, this clever Hitchcock homage will keep you guessing to the bitter end.

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

Short Film Spotlight: Pipes

Fast-paced and visually inventive, Pipes, an impressively animated black and white short from co-directors Jessica Meier, Kilian Feusi and Sujanth Ravichandran, is packed with deliciously funny incident.

The 4-minute, dialog-free film follows an anthropomorphic cartoon bear who works as a plumber and is tasked with fixing the pipes at a kinky gay nightclub.

Shocked at the hedonistic display of gay pleasure on the dance floor, a fear of the unknown soon takes him over. His mind wanders down a kaleidoscopic rabbit hole of gay panic where pipes become body parts and body parts become pipes before he comes to his senses and realizes that there was never anything to be afraid of in the first place.

Cleverly-crafted, the film builds a bizarre cartoon world you won’t soon forget. If you’re never seen an animated alien do poppers before, you’re in for a weirdly specific treat!

Check out the poster for Pipes below. The short film is now streaming on Dekkoo. And, despite the cuddly characters and the positive message, be warned that this film is for grown-up viewers only.

A man attempts a turbulent journey out of the closet in the moving drama ‘El Houb (The Love)’

Having spent decades hiding his sexuality from his family, Moroccan-Dutch businessman Karim (Fahd Larhzaoui) decides to come clean after his father catches him in bed with a man.

Caught up in a panic over the thought of coming out to his traditional Muslim parents (Slimane Dazi and Lubna Azabal), he barricades himself in their closet… literally.

As he feverishly revisits his childhood memories, negotiates a budding romance with a new Ghanaian boyfriend (Emmanuel Boafo) and wages a long-delayed battle royale to uproot his family’s conservative attitudes, a series of darkly hilarious and unflinchingly frank conversations begin – and the family is finally forced to confront the truths that have so long been avoided.

Loosely based on the theater work and actual experiences of lead actor and co-screenwriter Fahd Larhzaoui, El Houb (The Love) cascades through time. Director Shariff Nasr manages to straddle a line between uproarious comedy and heartbreaking drama while examining family dynamics, cultural taboos and hard-won self-acceptance.

Watch the trailer for El Houb (The Love) below. The film is now available on Dekkoo.