Category: Award Winner

Now Available: From Afar

Winner of the Golden Lion Award (the “Best Film” award, essentially) at Venice Film Festival, Alfredo Castro (The Club, The Prince) stars in this gripping and complex drama from Venezuela.

Wealthy, middle-aged Armando (Castro) lures young men to his home with money. He doesn’t want to touch them – or to be touched. He simply wants to watch from a strict distance. Armando’s first encounter with a young street thug named Elder (played by newcomer Luis Silva) is violent, but this doesn’t discourage the lonely man’s fascination with the tough handsome teenager.

Financial interest keeps Elder visiting Armando regularly. Despite their taboo arrangement, an unexpected intimacy begins to emerge between the two mismatched men. However, Armando’s haunted past looms large, and Elder soon ends up committing the ultimate act of affection on Armando’s behalf.

From Afar is available now on Dekkoo. Watch the trailer below.

Short Film Spotlight: I Am Norman

The new 18-minute short film I Am Norman opens with a warning. “You may find the following scenes upsetting, but that doesn’t always mean you should turn away.” The film then follows a man, a conversion therapy survivor living in his car, who takes a filmmaker into the woods to share a dark and disturbing secret.

From director/star Arron Blake and co-director Darius Shu, I Am Norman was filmed over three days during lockdown. The filmmakers challenged themselves to create a visually beautiful short with provocative storytelling using only a two-man crew.

Featuring an exceptional lead performance from Blake, the film has earned rave reviews from critics. Voice Magazine called the film “silently masterful,” Film Threat called it a “refined piece of work,” and Culture Fix called it, rightfully, “unsettling.”

Watch the trailer for I Am Norman below. The film is available now on Dekkoo.

The arrival of a secret gay lover threatens to derail an already tense wedding in the new drama The Marriage

With their wedding only two weeks away, Anita and Bekim (Adriana Matoshi and Alban Ukaj) are adding the final touches to their big day. Despite some major issues involving their respective families, the couple is managing to get through all of their many preparations.

However, when Bekim’s secret gay ex-lover, Nol (Genc Salihu), returns from abroad unexpectedly, the situation becomes complicated, especially when Bekim realizes that Nol is still in love with him.

Inevitably, the wedding banquet becomes loaded with tension when this unusual love triangle starts to unravel.

A touching and compassionate drama about the impossibility of a gay love affair in Kosovo’s patriarchal society, The Marriage is a well-acted and absorbing film debut from director Blerta Zeqiri. The film was the recipient of the FIPRESCI and Special Jury prizes in Tallinn and was the official Kosovar submission to the Academy Awards.

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

Short Film Spotlight: A Cemetery of Doves

“Silence is the language of God. All else is poor translation.” – Rumi

From Nigerian writer-director Adé Sultan Sangodoyin, A Cemetery of Doves is a thoughtful and deeply poetic coming-of-age short film about love, heartbreak and navigating the world as a queer individual.

Though the film features no dialog, the feelings are present. The filmmaker also employs subtitles to give us an idea of the young protagonist’s inner dialog.

What story exists in the film concerns a young Nigerian teenager’s misguided declaration of love for an older man. When his sentiments are met with rejection, he subsequently struggles with heartbreak and fear for his safety and future in a society which is intolerant of the LGBTQ community.

Adé Sultan Sangodoyin studied English Literature and Journalism at the University of Buckingham in England. His films, Different Plains and Eyimofe have screened at film festivals all over the world. His short stories, “A Language of the Unconscious”, “Dad Attempted Many Things and Failed” and “The Charred Flower” have been published in the Kalahari Review and Agbowo Magazine, respectively. A Cemetery of Doves marks him as a visually gifted filmmaker to watch.

Watch the trailer for A Cemetery of Doves below. The film is available now on Dekkoo.

Coming Soon to Dekkoo: Abu: Father

CW: Sexual Assault

Director Arshad Khan delivers an emotional and unflinchingly personal documentary about his relationship with himself and his family. The film documents Khan’s significant experiences growing up in a Muslim family in India such as an early love for fashion and appearances, his strong relationship with his mother and his sisters, and being molested at age four.

Arshad and his family eventually end up moving to Canada, allowing for him to nurture his growing love for art and his growing understanding of his sexuality.

Khan does not shy away from the darker moments in his life as he takes the audience on an emotional journey towards self acceptance.

Utilizing live action interviews, inventive animation, and personal home movie footage Khan paints a fascinatingly complex portrait of an equally complex man. At times feeling like a personal essay rather than a documentary, paired with Khan’s soothing self narration make the story feel incredibly personal.

The real standout of the film is Khan’s extensive library of home video footage. Beginning from the beginning of his life and stretching all the way to nearly the present, it allows you to feel almost like you are there with Khan through all of the significant moments of his life.

You can find Abu: Father streaming soon on Dekkoo

The Short Films of Robert Gray are now available on Dekkoo!

Robert Gray is a talent to watch in the world of Queer cinema.

Originally from Prince Rupert, British Columbia, he taught screenwriting at the Vancouver Film School in the early 2000s, has published two serialized novels, written six short films and directed two.

His story collection ‘Entropic’ won the 2016 Thomas Raddall Atlantic Fiction Award and his short film Choke Hold (included in this collection) was nominated for the prestigious Iris Prize.

Choke Hold follows two friends who discover that sometimes you have to go too far to know your own strength. Zack & Luc utilizes a split-screen to tell two different versions of of a relationship from each person’s side. Aidos tells the story of a deceased man who had twenty-one different people profess their love for him before he passed. Finally, Bed: A Short Documentary examines what our choices in beds and mattresses say about ourselves, our relationships and our histories.

Dekkoo is proud to present The Short Films of Robert Gray – all available now!

Watch the award-winning documentary Memories of a Penitent Heart

Combining a wealth of recently discovered home movies, video and written documents with artfully shot contemporary interviews and vérité footage, Memories of a Penitent Heart is a documentary that cracks open a Pandora’s box of unresolved family drama.

The intimate lens of the film refracts on a wider cultural context: the AIDS crisis of the 1980s and 1990s, and in particular, how families treat their LGBTQ members in a Latin American cultural and religious context.

A story about the mistakes of the past and the second chances of the present, Memories of a Penitent Heart is a cautionary tale about the unresolved conflicts wrought by AIDS and a nuanced exploration of how faith is used and abused in times of crisis.

Watch the trailer for the film below. It’s now available on Dekkoo.

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.