Category: Award Winner

Now Available: II

A group of Belarusian students look for their place in life in II, a fast-paced coming-of-age drama from breakout director Vlada Senkova.

Like many Belarussians, Nastya and Sasha want to study in the European Union. They’re taking Polish language lessons after school to further their studies. Meanwhile, their friend Khristina is primarily interested in sex with her new flame.

Unfortunately, they never use a condom. As a result, Khristina is forever terrified of finding out that she’s pregnant. Fortunately, Nastya is always by her side – and even agrees to take an HIV test with her in order to allay her fears.

The result of the test, however, tears her life apart in unforeseen ways. At every level, a campaign of persecution is set in motion – fueled by a mixture of ignorance, lack of education and fear of the unknown.

Shot over only six days, II had originally been planned as a short film, but the themes grew so large that the running time increased as well. The film has earned rave reviews and provoked deep discussion at film festivals all around the world.

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

Now Available: Pulse

Directed by Stevie Martin-Cruz and written by Daniel Monks – who also stars – Pulse is a thoughtful sci-fi indie from Australia which has earned rave reviews at film festivals all around the world.

Monks stars in Pulse as Olly, a disabled gay teen who is suffering from a degenerative disease which is ravaging his body. When he is presented with an unusual opportunity to experience the world differently, he jumps at the chance. Soon, he is able to have his mind transferred into the body of an attractive young woman (played by Jaimee Peasley). This sets off a series of events which allow him to find love in previously unattainable ways, but also challenge the very core of who he is as a person.

Pulse is both a tender coming-of-age tale and a provocative and insightful look at disability, sexuality and identity.

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

Short Film Spotlight: Jesse

Jesse (Mercedes Torres) is s mixed-race transgender teen, arrives from Switzerland for a cross-country road trip with her estranged father Marcus (Stephen Hill).

As Marcus struggles to understand his daughter, and Jesse finds her deep desire to be understood, accepted and loved by him growing. This leads the two to strike up an unusual and weighty agreement, one with serious repercussions for their relationship and their trip.

Written and directed by Swiss filmmaker Vinz Feller, Jesse won the Bronze Award for Best LGBTQ Short at the Independent Shorts Awards. The film was also chosen as an Official Selection at both the LA Queer Film Fest and OutFest Los Angeles.

Watch the trailer for Jesse below. The full 15-minute short film is available now on Dekkoo.

The Short Films of Miguel Lafuente

Up-and-coming queer director Miguel Lafuente was born in Madrid. After studying film in the United States, Lafuente returned to Spain to start his own production company to produce queer cinema and music videos. These three short films explore dating, romance, and family dynamics.

Guillermo on the Roof follows an attractive young man (Javier Amann) who tries to fix his romantic life by making a film about it. Through the process, he will discover another reality through Samir (Anuar Beno), a Syrian refugee, who will make him realize the true superficial nature of his issues.

In Mario, Kike and David, two men (Almagro San Miguel and Gustavo Rojo) hook up after meeting on a dating app. What initially was never meant to be more than a one-night stand will turn into something else, in spite of their different ways of viewing their bisexuality – and how they both cope with it in their respective social circles.

In the final short of the bunch, My Brother, A family tragedy forces Alberto (Álvaro de Juan) to come back to his oppressive hometown in Spain from Berlin, where he has a free life working as comic illustrator.

Take a deep dive into The Short Films of Miguel Lafuente – now available on Dekkoo.

The director of Run Lola Run explores throuplehood in the German drama 3

From Tom Tykwer, the director behind Babylon Berlin, Cloud Atlas and Run Lola Run, 3 follows Hanna and Simon (Sophie Rois and Sebastian Schippe), a couple in their early forties who live together in Berlin.

With their twentieth anniversary looming, they both become restless despite being truly and deeply in love. Unbeknownst to one another, they separately become acquainted with Adam (Devid Striesow), an attractive younger man, and fall in love with him.

Inspired by, yet clearly not, the typical 1930’s rom-com romp, this reinvention of those classic films, combined with with Tykwer’s sleek direction, offers up a playful reinterpretation: an intellectual study of a modern couple looking for redefinition in a world of absolutes.

Watch the trailer for 3 below. The film is available now on Dekkoo.

George Takei narrates the feel-good mountaineering doc Who’s on Top

Who’s on Top is a new feature-length documentary which shines a spotlight on members of the LGBTQ community – including those with a range of mountaineering experience – who challenge stereotypes about gender and sexuality in the outdoor arena.

Historically excluded and ostracized as not belonging to the natural domain, the climbers will tackle not only a mountain, but assumptions about who they are and how they belong to the world of outdoor adventure.

Narrated by George Takei, Who’s on Top portrays a journey like no other, a never-before-told story about what makes LGBTQ folks both distinct and connected, facing physical, mental and societal obstacles.

Watch the trailer for Who’s on Top below. The film is now available on Dekkoo.

A baker seeks out the wife and son of his dead lover in this must-see drama The Cakemaker

Thomas (Tim Kalkhof) is a young German baker who is having a secret affair with Oren (Roy Miller), an married Israeli man who takes frequent business trips in Berlin.

When Oren dies in a car crash in Israel, Thomas travels to Jerusalem seeking answers regarding the untimely death of his lover. Under a fabricated identity, he infiltrates the life of Anat (Sarah Adler), Oren’s newly widowed wife, who owns a small cafe in downtown Jerusalem.

Thomas starts to work for her and create German cakes and cookies that bring life into her store. Thomas soon finds himself involved in Anat’s life in a way far beyond his anticipation – and to protect the truth he will stretch his lie to a point of no return.

An international hit when it was released in 2017, The Cakemaker earned glowing reviews from critics. The New York Times said “The Cakemaker believes in a love that neither nationality, sexual orientation nor religious belief can deter.”

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

Short Film Spotlight: Touchscreen

Brian (Kelly Miller) drifts through life using a computer monitor as his window to the world outside. He hooks up with men online, remotes into his office, and FaceTimes with family, unable to connect meaningfully with the people on the other side of his screen.

After an online encounter with the charming Dom (Jose Joaquin Perez), Brian is faced with an unusual request: a virtual sleepover.

Brian succumbs to Dom’s proposition, and is transported (then spooked) by the sweet hints of intimacy that permeate the laptop screen.

Later, when Dom asks to meet him in person, Brian conjures an alternate reality; one in which he shatters his long-lived inhibitions to claim the warm touch of another human being. Dom persists until Brian replies: a small step for man – with momentous implications.

From writer-star Kelly Miller and Arthur Halpern, Touchscreen is a smart new short film about one man’s self-imposed isolation, and how the technologies and social platforms meant to connect us – to lovers, to family, to work – are misused to reinforce that isolation. The film was chosen as a selection at countless film festivals all over the globe.

Watch the trailer for Touchscreen below. The full 15-minute short is available now on Dekkoo.

Short Film Spotlight: Brothers

Winner of ten different jury and audience awards at various film festivals, the new short film Brothers follows a Muslim Arab boy who realizes he is different. Fortunately, he has an older brother who stands by him and encourages him to always be himself, even in the face of bias and adversity.

Written and directed by Mike Mosallam, the acclaimed filmmaker behind the series All-American Muslim and the recent gay romantic comedy hit Breaking Fast, this short film aims to shed light on LGBTQ+ oppression in a familial, religious space that has yet to be portrayed on screen.

Watch the official teaser trailer for Brothers below. The film is available now on Dekkoo.

Sorry Angel is a mature, deeply emotional reflection on love, loss, youth and aging

Paris, 1993. Jacques (Pierre Deladonchamps) is a semi-renowned writer and single father in his thirties trying to maintain his sense of romance and humor in spite of the turmoil in his life and the world.

While on a work trip to Brittany, he meets Arthur (Vincent Lacoste), an aspiring filmmaker in his early twenties, who is experiencing a sexual awakening and eager to get out of his parochial life. Arthur becomes instantly smitten with the older man.

From writer-director Christophe Honoré (Love Songs, Dans Paris) comes a mature and deeply emotional reflection on love and loss, and youth and aging.

In its intergenerational snapshot of cruising, courtship and casual sex – Jacques’ forty-something neighbor Mathieu (Denis Podalydès) rounds out the triumvirate – Sorry Angel balances hope for the future with agony over the past in an unforgettable drama about finding the courage to love in the moment.

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