Category: Cross-Cultural Romance

A popular teen romance series gets the feature-length film treatment with Gameboys: The Movie

Young love is is never smooth, but when you add the pandemic into it, problems seem to pop up at every turn. Based on the popular “Boys Love” series, Gameboys: The Movie follows the story of two young gamers turned lovers as they try desperately to keep their relationship alive despite myriad obstacles.

Cairo (Elijah Canlas) has moved in with Gavreel (Kokoy de Santos). As their relationship is in a new and uncertain phase, Cairo is hesitant to do anything physical… no matter how much Gavreel tries to initiate it.

As the boys try to make the best of the situation, Gavreel’s ex-boyfriend, Terrence, shows up. And then Cairo’s gaming buddy, Wesley. And then Gavreel’s conservative Aunt Susan insists on staying for a few days. While the quartet of lovesick boys enjoy their time cooped up with one another, they have to tiptoe around Aunt Susan’s intolerant ways.

After defying distance, nosy friends and family and even COVID, will the two boys be able to prove that their love for one another is strong enough to withstand fate and circumstance?

Watch the trailer for Gameboys: The Movie below. This sexy and heartfelt new romance is now available on Dekkoo.

Two former friends rekindle their affections in the romantic drama I Miss You When I See You

An old-fashioned gay romance from Simon Chung, the director behind End of Love and Speechless, I Miss You When I See You stars Hong Kong actors Jun Li and Ji-Lok Mak Bryant as Kevin and Jamie, former best friends from high school.

Their emotional attachment and growing love for one another were cut abruptly short by Kevin’s departure to Australia with his mother.

Twelve years later, Jamie tracks down Kevin in Australia. The reunion with his best friend reminds Kevin – suffering from depression – of his youthful ambitions. He decides to return to Hong Kong to be closer to Jamie.

Meanwhile, Jamie, who is in a steady relationship with his girlfriend, finds his feelings for Kevin reawakened and growing stronger.

Inevitably, both men must make a choice between society’s expectations… or following their hearts.

Watch the trailer for I Miss You When I See You below. The film is now available on Dekkoo.

Beyond Gravity, a gay ’80s classic from New Zealand, has been newly restored!

Richard (Robert Pollock) is an astronomy-obsessed worrier who spends the majority of his time fantasizing about outer space and the cosmos – an activity which antagonizes his friends and family.

One day, Richard meets Johnny (Iain Rea), a handsome Italian man with an enormous appetite for life, who finally offers Richard the love he’s been missing – as well as a much-needed escape from the monotony of work.

A joyous celebration of the love between two eccentrics who both have their sights aimed firmly amongst the stars, Beyond Gravity is a true underground ’80s gay classic.

Originally filmed in Auckland, New Zealand in 1988, this lost 50-minute film has been digitally remastered for a new 2K restoration thanks to the cult indie distribution label Altered Innocence. Now Beyond Gravity is available once again to make audiences think and swoon.

Beyond Gravity is now available on Dekkoo. You can watch an excerpt from the film below.

Now Available: Eastern Boys

The critically-acclaimed Eastern Boys follows the cautious relationship that develops between a single man and a much-younger sex-worker.

Arriving from all over the Eastern Bloc, the young men who frequent the Gare du Nord train station in Paris are scraping by however they can, forming gangs for support and protection and living in fear of being caught by the police and deported.

When a bourgeois, middle-aged man named Daniel (Olivier Rabourdin) approaches a boyishly handsome Ukrainian immigrant named Marek (Kirill Emelyanov), he learns the young man is willing to do anything for some cash.

When Daniel brings the young man home, it leads to an alarming and dangerous home invasion. But once the men are able to spend some time alone together, they end up forming an unexpectedly profound relationship. The drastically different circumstances of their lives ultimately reveal hidden facets of the city they share.

Presented in four parts, this absorbing, critically-acclaimed drama from director Robin Campillo (“The Returned,” BPM (Beats Per Minute)) is centered around relationships that defy easy categorization, in which motivations and desires are poorly understood – even sometimes by those to whom they belong.

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

Three gay Palestinian friends advocate for sexual and national equality in the moving documentary Oriented

A feature-length documentary from Israel-based British director Jake Witzenfeld, Oriented follows the lives of three gay Palestinian friends as they confront their national and sexual identities in modern Tel Aviv.

Khader is an “It Boy” and provocateur from a prominent Muslim mafia family in Tel Aviv’s neighboring Arab suburb of Jaffa. An aspiring journalist and producer, he lived for many years in the heart of Tel Aviv with his “Jew-ish” boyfriend David.

Fadi left his Christian community in northern Israel to pursue his dream of becoming a nurse. He feels that his new freedom is marred by the guilt of his nation’s tragedy. His passionate nationalism is challenged when he falls in love with an American Jew fighting in the Israeli Defense Forces.

Naeem describes himself as a Palestinian, vegetarian and feminist. Like Fadi, he comes from a Christian family in northern Israel. His time in Yafo inspired him to confront his family’s expectations and be honest with his loved ones about his sexual identity.

Determined to change their reality, the three friends form a non-violent, cultural resistance group to advocate for sexual and national equality. Meanwhile, a war is brewing that may jeopardize their best laid plans.

A stirring film which has sparked active engagement at community screenings, Oriented has inspired a great deal of discourse about LGBTQ rights, the perception of “the other” in conflict zones and the role of grassroots social activism all around the world.

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

Now Available: Parallel Sons

A gay indie classic and film festival favorite from 1995, Parallel Sons follows the relationship that develops between a white teen who identifies as black and a young black man who has been wounded while escaping prison.

Seth (Gabriel Mann) is a youth with artistic leanings, a fascination with Black pop culture and a dead-end life in an Adirondack village. He’s alternatively sensitive and brutal with Kristen (Heather Gottlieb), who wants a sexual relationship that he explosively rejects.

Late one night, as he’s closing the cafe where he works, a young Black man attempts to rob him at gun point but faints from illness. Seth takes the man, Knowledge (Laurence Mason), an escapee from a nearby prison, to a family cabin where he nurses him and they begin a tentative friendship. When the sheriff learns of Seth’s harboring a fugitive, a major confrontation looms.

Watch the original trailer for Parallel Sons below. The film is now available on Dekkoo.

Don’t miss the award-winning, critically-acclaimed Kanarie

Johan Niemand (Schalk Bezuidenhout) is a fashion-loving gay teen in small-town South Africa in 1985, a time of apartheid, religious conservatism and war – an era when not even his idol Boy George had dared to come out publicly as gay yet. 

When Johan is called up to serve his compulsory two-year military training, he escapes the border war by joining The South African Defence Force Church Choir and Concert Group, known as Die Kanaries (The Canaries), where he discovers his true self through hardship, camaraderie, first love and the liberating freedom of music.

A winner of over 15 different international awards, Kanarie earned rave reviews from critics. It currently has a 100% Fresh rating on Rotten Tomatoes. The Los Angeles Times called it “A rich, poignant and finely observed musical drama.” Michael McNeely in theBUZZ said “Every once in a while comes a film that is filled with so much joy, human connection, and emotional turmoil, you know that as long as it sticks the landing, it is a masterpiece.”

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

Two high school friends get closer than they ever expected in the coming-of-age drama Blurred Lines

Janik and Samuel (Emil von Schönfels and Mekyas Mulugeta) are extremely close best friends celebrating the end of their senior year of high school. Both come from completely different worlds. Janik’s parents are seemingly perfect, while Samuel comes from a broken home. Naturally, Samuel is looking for stability while Janik just wants to rebel.

Sex and sexuality are never far from the surface for both, which leads the pair to one impulsive moment that could threaten their friendship forever. In an attempt to rekindle their relationship, the boys set off on a trip to Istanbul, but the blurred line that has been crossed proves hard to re-establish.

Based on a young adult novel by German writer and filmmaker Finn-Ole Heinrich, Blurred Lines (also known as Stambul Garden) is a thoroughly modern take on the bonds that develop between young men.

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