Category: Award Winner

Logan Miller stars in the gripping gay indie family drama ‘Take Me to the River’

Writer-director Matt Sobel’s assured directorial debut Take Me to the River tells the story of an artsy, confident and proudly gay California teen who is reluctantly heading to Nebraska with his parents for a for a family reunion.

Logan Miller, the charismatic, scene-stealing young character actor from Love, Simon, Escape Room and countless indie gems, stars as Ryder, the gay teen in question. Though his parents are supportive, there is some question over how the rest of their extended family will react to his lifestyle.

After planning to come out to his conservative relatives, he agrees to hold off at his mother’s request. Nevertheless, he makes a showy entrance at the cookout with his short shorts and eye-catching shades.

No one seems particularly impressed – except for a 9-year old cousin named Molly (played by Ursulla Parker), who follows him around adoringly. When they go to the barn to look for birds in the rafters and she comes back screaming and inconsolable, Ryder comes under suspicion from the rest of the family. In the process of clearing his name, he learns that some family secrets are better left in the dark.

Co-starring Robin Weigert, Richard Schiff and Josh Hamilton, Take Me to the River is a gripping, thoughtfully layered and superbly well-acted drama about clashing cultures, buried secrets and the ties that bind us.

Watch the trailer for Take Me to the River below. The film is now streaming on Dekkoo.

A shy teen is caught between his family and the boy of his dreams in ‘I Love You More’

How much would you be willing to sacrifice to finally meet up with the man of your dreams? That’s the question at the heart of the new teen drama I Love You More.

For the better part of a year, Ben (Don Shala), a shy Kosovar teen, has been involved in a romantic online entanglement with a boy named Leo. Though they haven’t met in person, they are making plans to do just that. Leo, who lives in Germany, is expecting to come for a visit in just one month.

Falling into the bittersweet throes of first love, Ben spends most of his waking hours engaged in online pillow talk while daydreaming about the day when the pair will finally be together.

An unexpected wrench is thrown into the works when his mom announces that the family will soon be moving to America and starting a new life for themselves. Though this might seem like good news, Ben is not nearly ready to move. If they leave Kosovo, he might never have the opportunity to meet Leo in person again.

Longing for love and connection, Ben puts his family’s dreams on the line and struggles to finally come forward with his truth.

The debut feature from non-binary filmmaker Erblin Nushi, who based the story on their own experiences and feelings of isolation as a queer kid in Kosovo, I Love You More is a tender, resonant and gorgeously crafted coming-of-age drama.

Watch the trailer for I Love You More below. The film is now streaming on Dekkoo.

Short Film Spotlight: Mikey’s Army

When you are facing a crisis, who goes to battle for you?

In a time when queer kids face unprecedented attacks and hostility from lawmakers, educators and even their own families, writer Eric Ulloa and director Andrew Keenan-Bolger set out to make a short film that puts the beauty – and even magic – of queerness at center stage.

Mikey’s Army stars Markie Aquirre as Mikey Alvarez, a 16-year-old who finds himself at a pivotal moment. He must decide whether or not to be open and honest about his sexuality.

Not quite ready to come out on his own, Mikey unwittingly conjures a trio of guides who appear in an explosion of glitter and glitz. Backed up by a drag queen, an international pop star and an action film heartthrob, he finally finds the courage and confidence he needs to be honest about his feelings.

Featuring a cast of Broadway-regulars like Claybourne Elder and Krystina Alabado – alongside ‘RuPaul’s Drag Race’ alum Shuga Cain – Mikey’s Army is a thoughtful and touching film that aims to remind us that our differences can be superpowers – and that we’re never alone on the battlefield.

Watch a short teaser trailer for Mikey’s Army below. The 10-minute film is now available on Dekkoo.

An unexpected love triangle forms in Maryam Touzani’s acclaimed romance ‘The Blue Caftan’

Set in one of Morocco’s oldest medinas, The Blue Caftan follows husband and wife Halim and Mina (Saleh Bakri and Lubna Azabal), who run a traditional caftan store, specializing in hand-sewn, made-to-measure garments.

Together, they share a love for the craft, the beauty of fabrics, the history of the artisans and the skills passed down through generations. Most days Halim can be found carefully crafting traditional caftans with detailed embroidery, committing historical significance to each enduring stitch.

Trying to keep up with demand, the pair hire Youssef (Ayoub Missioui), a soft-spoken young apprentice who is eager to learn everything he can from his new mentor. But when Youssef’s interest in Halim takes a romantic turn, it sets up a deeply complicated and unexpected love triangle.

Mina observes the two men with a mixture of jealousy and chagrin as their attraction to one another grows stronger. The dynamics among the three of them begin to evolve in surprising ways that reveal depths of understanding, generosity, and kindness – and illustrate the possibilities of love even under the most difficult circumstances.

With her second feature film, writer-director Maryam Touzani perfectly captures the intimacy and tenderness in human relationships. The Blue Caftan tells a story of unparalleled adoration, one centered on laughter and longing over the popular expectations of love.

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

Don’t miss ‘Lie with Me,’ a gorgeous adaptation of French author Phillipe Besson’s celebrated novel

Adapted from a beloved novel by French author Phillipe Besson, Lie with Me tells an erotic, tender and heartbreaking tale of a lost romance that lingers.

Guillaume de Tonquédec stars as Stéphane, a celebrated author who, as a shy, bespectacled teenager (played in flashbacks by Jérémy Gillet), had fallen for Thomas (Julien De Saint Jean), a rough-and-tumble boy from their small picturesque town.

Now, after thirty years away, he returns home for a book tour and meets Lucas (Victor Belmondo), Thomas’s grown son… who is searching for answers about his deceased father.

As Stéphane is flooded with memories of his first love, the mysteries of their relationship are revealed. The film contrasts the wintry present with the sun-splashed summer when the two young men first fell in love.

With a bucolic rural European setting and parallel narratives, acclaimed director Olivier Peyon weaves a timeless tale of love found and lost that will sweep audiences away on Stéphane’s wave of nostalgia – and questions of what might have been.

Even tragic love stories have magical moments… and Lie with Me is full of them.

Watch the trailer for Lie with Me below. The film is now streaming on Dekkoo.

Director Jared Watmuff’s award winning short film ‘Hey You’ packs a shocking and tragic punch

In April of 2017, over 100 different people were reportedly abducted, tortured and murdered by authorities in Chechnya as part of a heinous crackdown against the LGBTQ+ community. Some of these people were directly targeted and entrapped using dating apps. Ongoing prosecutions, mysterious disappearances and additional waves of attacks continued soon after.

Hey You, a shocking, but deeply important 4-minute short film from writer-director Jared Watmuff, explores this topic head-on.

At the start of Hey You, it seems that we’re watching an ordinary connection transpire between two men on Grindr. Soon enough, however, we realize that we’re seeing the experiences of two men from very different places – and how their simple pursuit of companionship plays out in wildly divergent ways.

A winner of numerous awards at film festivals around the globe, Hey You exposes how, with the convenience of social media and dating apps, our hard-fought rights and freedoms can be taken for granted – and how, for many others, the fight for those freedoms is far from over.

We do feel the need to warn you that the film contains scenes and imagery that most viewers will – and should – find deeply disturbing. This film does not shy away from the tragic reality of the situation.

Watch a short trailer for Hey You below. The full short film is now available on Dekkoo.

Short Film Spotlight: The Things You Think I’m Thinking

An award-winning short film from director Sherren Lee, The Things You Think I’m Thinking stars Station Eleven regular Prince Amponsah as Sean, a gay man struggling with emotional insecurities and body image issues as he embarks on his first date with another man since being badly scarred and losing both his arms in a house fire.

Though Sean and his new date Caleb (played by Jesse LaVercombe, the film’s screenwriter) hit it off while flirting at the bar, things get tense when they return to Sean’s apartment and Caleb tries to take their budding relationship into the bedroom.

The two soon realize that they need to communicate honestly – and not, like on so many dates before, assume what one another are thinking.

LaVercombe wrote this 14-minute short as a tribute to Amponsah. An accomplished Canadian stage actor, The Things You Think I’m Thinking marked his first film role after returning to the stage in 2016, following his own real-life injuries in a 2012 apartment fire.

The film went on to win multiple awards – including the Jury Prize for Best International Short Film at Outfest in 2018, a Special Jury Prize at the 2018 Canadian Film Festival and the award for Best Canadian Short Film at the 2018 Inside Out Film and Video Festival.

Watch a short teaser clip from The Things You Think I’m Thinking below. The film is now streaming on Dekkoo.

The line between friends and lovers gets blurred in the sexy new gay comedy ‘Shoulder Dance’

Shoulder Dance stars Matt Dallas and Rick Cosnett as Ira and Roger, two former best friends – one gay, the other straight – who have not actually seen each other in twenty-four years.

When Roger arrives unexpectedly for the weekend with his girlfriend Lilly (Maggie Geha) in tow, long suppressed desires dangerously resurface… and a wild weekend of seductive games, unraveling revelations and all-out indulgence ensues.

But as the boundaries of friendship, love and sex collide, the strength of Ira’s long-term relationship with Josh (Taylor Frey) starts getting tested like never before.

Written and directed by Jay Arnold, who previously helmed the 2011 comedy What Happens Next and produced The Big Gay Musical, Shoulder Dance won the Best LGBTQ Film and Best Supporting Actress awards and was nominated for Best Picture at 2023 Hollywood Reel Independent Film Festival.

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

Two Italian teens begin an ill-fated romance during the summer of 1982 in ‘Fireworks’

Set in Sicily in 1982, Fireworks (also know as Stranizza d’amuri) chronicles the budding romance that grows between Gianni and Nino (Samuel Segreto and Gabriele Pizzurro), two teen boys who are stuck in an era and culture that is inhospitable to their love.

Working together setting off fireworks during the summer, the two young men forge a friendship that slowly grows deeper. But when their new romantic bond is uncovered by their families, the consequences prove just as violent and tragic as the times and mores are conservative.

Based on a real-life incident that actually jump-started the Italian Gay Rights movement, and featuring sensitive performances from Segreto and Pizzurro, its two up-and-coming lead actors, this debut feature from Italian writer-director Giuseppe Fiorello is a moving and deeply felt examination of the painful moments that produce lasting political change.

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

Short Film Spotlight: Campfire

There are thirty-some LGBTQ campgrounds in America – many of which started in the 1980s at the height of the AIDS epidemic as refuges for urban gay men and as meeting places for rural (often closeted) men from conservative areas.

In the summer of 2022, author, filmmaker and former New York Times journalist Austin Bunn decided to make a documentary about Hillside, one of the oldest gay campgrounds, located in the mountains of Pennsylvania.

After weeks of interviews, he found that some men were only willing to talk off the record. In an effort to capture their transformational experiences, he created a composite character from their stories and filmed Campfire, a narrative/documentary hybrid.

This award-winning film follows a married dairy farmer who travels to a gay campground in rural Northeast Pennsylvania in search of the man he fell in love with 30 years earlier. Along his journey, he discovers that the past is not done with him yet.

Unfolding in the real location, during one weekend, this inventive and deeply poignant film features six permanent residents of Hillside along with two professional actors and dozens of actual campers – who just happened to be there at the right time – serving as extras.

Check out the poster for Campfire below. A hit with audiences at film festivals all over the country, this unique short film is now available on Dekkoo.