Category: Documentary

Scotty and the Secret History of Hollywood examines scandalous show-biz history

Scotty and the Secret History of Hollywood is the deliciously scandalous story of Scotty Bowers, a handsome ex-Marine who landed in Hollywood after World War II and became confidante, aide-de-camp and lover to many of Hollywood’s greatest male and female stars.

In the 1940s and ‘50s, Scotty ran a gas station in the shadow of the studio lots – where he would connect his friends with actors and actresses who had to hide their true sexual identities for fear of police raids at gay bars, societal shunning and career suicide.

An unsung Hollywood legend, Bowers would cater to the sexual appetites of celebrities—straight and gay–for decades. While the studio PR machines were promoting their stars as wholesome and monogamous, Bowers was fulfilling the true desires of many of them.

This cinéma-vérité documentary by director Matt Tyrnauer (Valentino: The Last Emperor) tells his story, as well as presents eye-opening takes on icons from the Hollywood Golden Age including Cary Grant, Katharine Hepburn, Spencer Tracy, Lana Turner, Ava Gardner and many more.

Watch the trailer for Scotty and the Secret History of Hollywood below. The film is available now on Dekkoo.

New This Week – 11/5/21

After learning he has only six weeks to live, all veteran drag queen Jackie Collins wants to do is perform his long-running act and behave as if everything is normal. But between a new friendship with a rising young queen and some unfinished business with his estranged daughter, he’s about to have the most eventful month and a half of his life. ‘Tucked’ is available now on Dekkoo!

After leaving Brazil, Cesar meets Martin at an empty café in Tallinn, Estonia. In front of these two attractive young men lies an uncertainty as infinite as the sea itself. A charming new short film drama from writer-director-star Gabriel Motta. Watch ‘Two Men By The Sea’ on Dekkoo!

A deliciously scandalous documentary about unsung Hollywood legend Scotty Bowers, whose controversial bestselling memoir portrayed him as a sexual liaison to the biggest movie stars of the 1940s and ‘50s – including Cary Grant, Katharine Hepburn, Spencer Tracy, Lana Turner, Ava Gardner and more. Stream ‘Scotty and the Secret History of Hollywood now on Dekkoo!

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Coming next week: An unapologetically homoerotic study of a profound male friendship.

A fascinating fluid life is chronicled in the documentary Electroboy

Jimmy Cliff once sang “You can get it if you really want.” If this sentence applies to anyone, then it most definitely applies to model, snowboard pioneer, advertising whiz, author, party organizer and composer Florian Burkhardt, who managed to talk everyone around him out of their own goals and into achieving his own.

A documentary by Swiss filmmaker Marcel Gisler (Mario, Fogi is a Bastard), Electroboy tells the breathtaking true life story of a young man who leaves his claustrophobic Swiss surroundings for the wide world in search of fame and recognition.

In a series of success stories he reinvents himself time and again, changing settings and careers like other people change their shirts. Yet Florian’s life on the fast track turns into an escape from his own biography, which finally catches up with him at full force.

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

Director Marco Berger’s The Carnival is an erotic feast for the eyes!

Marco Berger, the maverick Argentinian filmmaker behind Absent, Young Hunter, Taekwondo, The Blonde One and many more, turns his unparalleled eye for the male form to one of the world’s largest displays of masculine bodies- a traditional South American Carnival.

Using two men as our primary guides, we watch the men of the town prepare and, eventually participate, in parade like no other.

The sensual joy of watching the men of Gualeguaychú transform in to Dionysiac figures via costumes, glitter and feathers is the perfect canvas for Berger’s talents.

A visual, erotic feast for the senses, The Carnival is not to be missed.

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

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.

Theality TV follows the making of an unusual Off-Broadway musical

Hosted by iconic journalist Michael Musto, Theality TV is a brand-new reality show about an Off-Broadway musical’s efforts to see the light of day.

The series follows Rob Gould, a musical-loving writer-director who is trying to stage his piece “Little House on the Ferry.” After years of effort, his dreams may finally be coming true. An investor gives him a chance to produce the project, with two major catches: he only has one month and ten thousand dollars with which to work.

Even on this shoestring budget, Rob leaps at the opportunity to state his masterpiece. But it won’t be easy. The casting process is insane, the actors are divas, the crew is difficult and there is always another challenge or roadblock around each and every corner. But Rob is determined to make his dream a reality at any and all costs.

Watch the trailer for Theality TV below and follow the whole journey 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.

New This Week – 7/30/21

Jamie re-encounters his old school friend, Kevin, who has been suffering from depression and must make a choice between following his heart or society. ‘I Miss You When I See You’ is available now on Dekkoo!

Though Nev is happily situated with his family in Los Angeles, he has yet to reveal his secret to his old school Jewish parents who are coming over to visit their new grandson for the first time. Watch ‘Paradise Apartments – Generation Clash’ now on Dekkoo!

One month and $10,000 is “not enough” to put on an off-Broadway musical, but first-time director Rob Gould attempts it anyway, and takes us along for the ride. Taking his script for ‘Little House on the Ferry’ and making it a reality isn’t smooth sailing. From casting and table reads to costuming and rehearsal, Theality TV follows the creative process step by step until the final performance itself. ‘Theality TV’ is available to stream now on Dekkoo!

Nude male dancers explore dark, primal energy and ritual in the dance documentary Bare

For about 25 years, Belgian choreographer Thierry Smits has asserted an artistic approach that is well off the beaten path, and frequently controversial.

Alternating pure dance productions with more performative pieces, his work explores our relationship to the body – as an object of desire, pleasure and finiteness – which Smits considers, today more than ever, as a political space, the only free territory left to us.

In Anima Ardens, based on the experience and singularity of each dancer, Smits creates a piece about the intuitiveness of the body and bodies together, reminiscent of the evolution of a hurricane which, starting from nothing, attains wild strength, both violent and fascinating, before dissipating and returning to silence.

In between breathtaking dance sequences, the revealing new documentary Bare reveals the artistic collaboration and conflict between Smits and his company – eleven male dancers performing nude – as they build this new avant-garde piece steeped in dark, primal energy and ritual.

With the creation they address questions of body politics, gender, censorship and taboo aesthetics. A creative exploration of the underrepresentation of the naked male form in performing arts, the film documents the arduous process of auditioning, rehearsing and opening Anima Ardens.

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

Now Available: The Circuit

The Circuit is a new digital series that explores the underground circuit community through the personal lives of different players within the scene.

The cast of The Circuit – DJs, dancers, a party producer and an adult entertainer – take us on a wild ride through the inner workings of the New York City gay dance party subculture.

Explore the eponymous “circuit” parties as the cast juggle career, love and the thrilling events themselves until a global pandemic and a series of unfortunate decisions turns their world on its head.

Featuring Nina Flowers, Sam Gee, Joe Pacheco, Jake Resnicow, Dan De Leon, Alec Brian, Ian Frost, Shane Jackson, Shane Marcus, Manuel Skye, Ugene, Trey Sherman, Darius Glover and more, The Circuit offers a frank look at a thrilling LGBTQ+ subculture.

Watch the trailer for The Circuit below. The first season is now available on Dekkoo.