Category: Cross-Cultural Romance

Two young men from different backgrounds come together in the sexy Italian romance ‘Empty’

Italian writer-director Giovanni Carpanzano’s feature-length debut, Empty follows two incredibly handsome young men in love who come from different worlds.

Giorgio (Gianluca Galati) is the first-born son of a wealthy and prominent Italian lawyer. Marco (Kevin Di Sole) comes from a much more modest family and has been struggling to emancipate himself from his small provincial town.

Both young men dream of an overwhelming love and above all to emerge from their current circumstances into something greater. The powerful force that attracts them to one another will also fuel them in their fight to stay together.

Sexy, thought-provoking and deeply emotional, Empty examines two lovers at a crossroads and the overwhelming and unexpected love that pushes them.

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

Philip Embury wrote, directed and stars in the witty culture clash comedy ‘What My Love is For’

What My Love is For follows Philip (played by screenwriter and co-director Philip Embury), a young gay writer who is stuck living a farm boy’s life with his mother and dopey older brother in rural Virginia.

His whole world is turned upside down when he learns that his beloved great grandmother has died. The good news is that she bequeathed him her summer house in East Hampton. The bad news is that there’s still a considerable debt owed to the bank.

With his witty best friend Katie (Bianca Rutigliano) and his hillbilly brother Dougie (David Maloney) in tow, Philip heads to the Hamptons, where he quickly falls in love with the crumbling beach house.

While crashing a fancy party in search of cash, he also starts catching feelings for Hunter (Marshall Taylor Thurman), a handsome young artist whose mission is to land a wealthy older boyfriend to fund his lifestyle. With time running out to save the house, Philip considers doing the same. He soon has to decide whether saving the house is worth selling himself.

With an incredibly charming cast and whip-smart writing, What My Love is For tells a heartfelt and deeply funny story about love, family and finding the true meaning of home.

Watch the trailer for What My Love is For below. The film is now streaming on Dekkoo.

The queer classic ‘Saturday Night at the Baths’ comes to Dekkoo in a new 4K restoration

Newly restored in 4K, director David Buckley’s landmark excursion into bisexuality, 1970s relationship politics and the historical importance of gay bathhouse culture is celebrated in his 1975 film Saturday Night at the Baths.

When struggling pianist Michael (Robert Aberdeen) lands a job at the legendary Continental Baths in New York City, his wife Tracy (Ellen Sheppard) encourages him – and even emphasizes how special this institution is. Michael, however, struggles with his own homophobia, yet starts developing feelings for his confident and sexually free co-worker Scotti (Don Scotti).

Shot on-location inside the famous Continental Baths and featuring an unforgettable 12-minute scene of the actual entertainment of the time, both musical and erotic alike, Saturday Night at the Baths is a sublime example of the compelling and sensual queer cinema of one of the most groundbreaking periods in gay and bisexual film history.

Watch the trailer for the new restoration of Saturday Night at the Baths below. The film is now streaming on Dekkoo.

Short Film Spotlight: Havana

Living in Cuba in the 1970s, immigration officer Antonio (Ifeanyi Dike Jr.) earns money on the side by selling illegal visas at exorbitant prices. And that’s not his only secret. He’s also hiding his sexuality.

His hush-hush lifestyle is starting to get the better of him. Afraid of the outside world, he spends most of his time confined within the walls of his small Havana apartment. His only solace comes in the form of visits from Jian (Shaofei Chen), his secret boyfriend. But when Jian arrives one night looking for an illegal visa of his own, and an opportunity to start a new life, it becomes clear that Antonio is not the only person keeping secrets.

An exceptionally well-made short film from accomplished Hollywood production manager Faith Strongheart, Havana uses top-notch talent to tell a bittersweet story about the forbidden queer love and two men’s desperate longing for escape from an unforgiving time and place.

Watch a short clip from Havana below. The film is now streaming on Dekkoo.

John Benjamin Hickey stars in beloved filmmaker Eytan Fox’s cross-cultural romance ‘Sublet’

Tony Award-winning theatre veteran John Benjamin Hickey stars in Sublet as Michael, a travel columnist for The New York Times who reluctantly goes on a trip to Tel Aviv to write an article after suffering a tragedy.

Leaving behind some unresolved relationship troubles with his husband, Michael just wants to do his research and fly back home as soon as possible. But when he sublets an apartment from Tomer, an incredibly attractive young film student played by newcomer Niv Nissim, he suddenly finds himself drawn into the life of the city.

The intense bond he forms with this casually seductive younger man ends up transforming both their lives in unexpected ways.

The newest feature from acclaimed Israeli filmmaker Eytan Fox, the writer-director behind Walk on Water and Yossi and Jagger, Sublet is sexy, charming, thought-provoking and ultimately life-affirming.

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

Two lovers face a difficult decision in the romantic drama ‘A Place to Be’

Writer-director Tadeo Garcia followed up his 2004 debut feature On the Downlow with A Place to Be, a powerful love story set against the backdrop of the U.S. immigration system.

Both Abel (Nelson A. Rodriguez), who works in Chicago in social services, and Diego (Andrew L. Saenz), an auto mechanic, have waited a long time to fall in love with the right person.

After several chance meetings, the two hook up and quickly fall for one another. But Diego has been hiding a secret: he’s an undocumented immigrant and his repeated attempts to attain citizenship have led nowhere.

When word reaches him that his mother is dying, Diego must decide whether or not to risk a trip back to Mexico, knowing he will jeopardize his chances of returning to America… and building a future with Abel. Can their love survive this dangerous decision?

Emotional and poignant, A Place to Be tells a moving story about the power of love during uncertain times.

Check out the poster for A Place to Be below. The film is now streaming on Dekkoo.

Andrea Riseborough and Demi Moore star in the wild queer pastiche ‘Please Baby Please’

Andrea Riseborough, Harry Melling and Demi Moore star in this neon-lit fantasia about newlyweds who find themselves on diverging sexual journeys.

A wildly inventive and wickedly funny 1950s pastiche from acclaimed filmmaker Amanda Kramer, Please Baby Please follows Arthur and Suze, two seemingly straight arrows who live an outwardly traditional lifestyle as the Lower East Side’s most bohemian Eisenhower-era couple.

The pair find their cage rattled when they witness a murder and become the new targets of a gang of sadistic, leather-clad greasers known as ‘The Young Gents.’ Their initial thrust of fear soon evolves, arousing previously unsuspected emotions and feelings of sexuality in both of the young lovers.

This sudden exposure to flamboyant masculinity unlocks the realization that Suze is an aspiring leather daddy who mistook herself for a housewife. Meanwhile, the perpetually sensitive Arthur’s obsessive gender trouble goes sideways when ‘Young Gent’ Teddy sparks his dormant queer desires.

Please Baby Please presents a full spectrum of underground fetishism and seductive musical asides, along with delicious cameos from Karl Glusman and Cole Escola. Visionary filmmaker Amanda Kramer pegs the hetero hell-scape of the 1950s in a witty, syncopated riff that plays like a high camp emission from your wildest dreams – bathed in silk, sweat and bisexual lighting!

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

An alluring stranger comes between three witchy siblings in the supernatural thriller ‘Cheat’

Originally produced by the Filipino network Hue TV, the new ‘Boys’ Love’ film Cheat is a campy psychological thriller with supernatural undercurrents.

A tale of stolen innocence, the film follows Vee (Daryll Rodriguez), an alluring and mysterious young man who comes from an unusually sheltered upbringing. When he befriends Dong, Jennifer and Jay (Migo de Vera, Allora Alcantara and Victor Relosa), a family of three siblings, along with their mother (Tuesday Vargas), who dabbles in witchcraft, his strange charms set off a series of events that will inflict devastating consequences.

As all three siblings begin to fall in love with the unusual stranger, jealously, lust and betrayal rear their ugly heads and Vee’s mere presence in the family’s life threatens to tear them apart.

With edgy supernatural soap opera vibes in the vein of ‘Supernatural’ or ‘Charmed,’ Cheat delves into the maelstrom of intimate relationships within a tightly knit family. It’s also got style and sex appeal to spare.

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

A married man discovers a sensual gay paradise in the erotic drama ‘Behind the Trees’

The third feature film from Thiago Cazado, the versatile Brazilian writer, director and performer behind About Us and Cousins, Behind the Trees is a mesmeric erotic drama about a macho married man who discovers a hidden paradise of sexual freedom.

Leo Carius stars as Paulo, the married man in question. He’s in a toxic relationship with his wife Jessica, played by Maria Guedes. After the pair have a serious argument, Paulo decides to go cycling to blow off some steam. He ends up getting lost in a remote region of the woods known as ‘The Forest of Whispers,’ a secret place where men meet up for anonymous sexual release.

Unhappy in his marriage, Paulo begins to frequent the forest, having no idea how much his life is about to change – especially after he meets Luigi, a young, carefree and sexually confident fellow cruiser played by writer-director Cazado. After the two men share hot encounter, Paulo quickly realizes that nothing will ever be the same again.

Having starred in all of his feature films to date, Cazado has shown a wide range as both a director and a performer.

Tender and provocative, thoughtful and sexually brazen, Behind the Trees is a deeply intimate addition to his growing collection of boundary-pushing stories and characters.

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