Drama – Page 110 – Discover great gay stories.

New This Week – 8/18/17

Writer-director John Maybury’s ‘Love is the Devil‘ offers a searing portrait of English painter Francis Bacon (Derek Jacobi). The film focuses on his tumultuous relationship with George Dyer (Daniel Craig), a younger small-time thief who Bacon treats as both rough trade and the ultimate artistic muse.

Torn between two loves, a young man struggles to understand and accept his own desire. Watch ‘Amias’ now on Dekkoo!

The worlds of a former neo-Nazi and the gay victim of his senseless hate crime attack collide by chance 25 years after the incident that dramatically shaped both of their lives. They proceed to embark on a journey of forgiveness that challenges both to grapple with their beliefs and fears, eventually leading to an improbable collaboration…and friendship. ‘Facing Fear‘ was a nominee for the 86th Academy Awards in the Best Documentary Short Subject category.

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Coming next week: An achingly romantic new indie from a Filipino auteur!

DEKKOO DISPATCH 031 – ‘AMIAS’ AND ‘TOMCAT’

Title – ‘Tomcat‘

Director – Handl Klaus

Starring – Lukas Turtur, Philipp Hochmair

Release Date – 2016

Title – ‘Amias‘

Director – John Giordano

Starring – Joren Seldeslachts, Celine Verbeeck, Marco Bellusci

Release Date – 2013

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Heya! It’s a great week on Dekkoo as we’ve added ‘Tomcat‘, a brilliant, beautiful, and moving portrait of a gay relationship at the edge – so to speak. It won the Teddy award for best feature film in 2016 and in a little bit I’ll talk more about the Teddy in case you’re unfamiliar with it.

But first! It’s always good to start with a short film before diving into the main course and this week we’re bringing you ‘Amias‘ from John Girodano. It’s a lyrical short film that deals with one man’s confusion between the woman he cares for and the man he loves. The music in the film really takes you on a meaningful journey through his splintered mind and it’s the perfect set-up to the intense relationship drama of ‘Tomcat‘.

‘Tomcat‘ comes to us from Austria. Written and directed by Handl Klaus ‘Tomcat‘ delves into the relationship between Andreas and Stefan. It seems they have everything: money, friends, love, but one day everything they took for granted comes tumbling down after an act of random violence changes the dynamic of their relationship. I don’t want to reveal what the act of violence is, but it proves that even small amounts of hurt can become amplified beyond control.

Since I can’t really delve into the film dynamics due to spoilers it’s the perfect time to talk about a prestigious award you might not know much about – The Teddy. Every year during the Berlinale festival the best LGBTQ feature, short, and documentary films are awarded grand prizes by an independent jury that solely focuses on the queer films presented at the Berlinale. Started in 1987 by Wieland Speck (current president of the Panorama section of Berlinale) and Manfred Salzgeber (filmmaker and founder of Edition Salzgeber – a German film distribution company) the Teddy award is now the most famous prize for a queer film at a major film festival. Since its inception it’s awarded prizes to many now-famous filmmakers like Todd Haynes, Pedro Almodovar, Gus Van Sant, and Francois Ozon.

At Dekkoo we have quite a few Teddy award-winners – ‘In The Name Of‘, ‘Raging Sun, Raging Sky‘, ‘Absent‘, and ‘The Bubble‘ just to name a few! You can check out the full list of winners here.

Enjoy!

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Watch ’em with: A lover you can cry with.

Mix it with: Lots of alcohol.

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New This Week – 8/11/17

Winner of the coveted Teddy Award for Best LGBT Feature at the Berlin International Film Festival, this provocative drama follows Andreas and Stefan, a gay couple whose happy life together is shaken to the core after an unexpected and inexplicable outburst of violence. ‘Tomcat’ is now available on Dekkoo!

Connor is going to kill himself. But first, he’s throwing a going away party to say goodbye to all his friends. Problem is, he doesn’t seem to have any friends. Watch ‘The Going Away Party’ now available on Dekkoo!

‘Trip to Hell and Back‘ is a documentary follows the true story of Trip Harting, one of the most famous horse riders in the United States who led a double life as one of the largest meth dealers in Washington DC’s gay underground drug scene.

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Coming next week: James Bond himself, Daniel Craig, bares his body and soul in this twisted portrait of a tortured real-life artist.

New This Week – 8/4/17

When his long-term partner hurls him headfirst into fatherhood, troubled TV personality Steven Evans starts to shed his playboy reputation and embrace his new loving family bond… until an unexpected visitor arrives to shake everything up. Watch ‘The Dream Children’ on Dekkoo!

New Year’s Eve 1999 finds college-bound Clark and Trevor concerned about the future of their friendship, and a request for Clark to be Trevor’s wingman ensures things will never be the same again. Watch ‘Tomorrow’ on Dekkoo!

‘Making It Big’ is a reality series that follows the lives of seven friends, each with a unique connec-tion to the LGBTQ+ community, living abroad in Barcelona. While attempting to establish their ca-reers in a foreign land, their struggles coming of age and coming out in Ireland and Great Britain are revealed.

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Coming next week: A harrowing relationship drama will linger with you long after the credits roll. It won the coveted Teddy Award at Berlin International Film Festival.

DEKKOO DISPATCH 027 – ‘PROTEUS’ AND ‘TONIGHT IT’S ME’

Title – ‘Proteus‘

Director – John Greyson, Jack Lewis

Starring – Brett Goldin, Jeroen Kranenburg, Rouxnet Brown, Tessa Jubber

Release Date – 2003

Title – ‘Tonight It’s Me‘

Director – Dominic Haxton

Starring – Neil Elliot, Caleb James, Christian Patrick, Jake Robbins

Release Date – 2014

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In case you hadn’t noticed, we’ve added another one of Dominic Haxton’s brilliant short films to Dekkoo. ‘Tonight It’s Me‘ stars Jake Robbins who appears in 2 of Dominic’s other films (to be added in the future!) and is also the star in Robert Hawk’s super sexy short ‘Home From The Gym‘. In ‘Home’ Jake felt far away and objectified. Here he feels merely objectified which isn’t bad for us! But seriously, in ‘Tonight’ we actually get to know more of what makes a muscled hustler like him tick.

The films starts off with CJ (Jake Robbins) dealing with one his usual ‘johns’; A fat older man who can’t stop insulting him and making his life miserable. Later on CJ stops off at a new trick’s house, Ash, who with his effeminate manner and his openness about sexuality and gender strikes a chord within CJ and he begins to open up more than he has with others in the past. The film is a masterpiece in subtle characterization and the hot interplay between the two main characters is the icing on top.

At Dekkoo we’re really proud to bring queer classics to the platform and John Greyson’s ‘Proteus‘ is one of those. Greyson has been a pioneering voice in the realm of queer cinema ever since hitting it big with the HIV/AIDS musical ‘Zero Patience’ back in 1993. His signature style of Derek Jarman-esque experimental narratives mixed with historical context and a few musical numbers thrown in for good measure combine to create significant works of cinematic art that still makes the festival and art-house cinema rounds to this day.

‘Proteus‘ was written and co-directed with Jack Lewis and concerns two men who were SPOILER ALERT! executed for sodomy in 1735 in South Africa. Normally I hate spoilers, but this is a historical film and it’s important to understand a little bit about history in order to grasp the subtle nuances throughout the film. Furthering the issue at the time was that they were a bi-racial couple.

Claas Blank and Rijkhaart Jacobsz are the two men at the heart of this story. Both of them are prisoners on Robben Island (an island on the west coast of Cape Town where Nelson Mandela was held for 18 years of his prison term). Claas is a Khoi, a native of southwestern Africa and Rijkhaart is from the Netherlands whose government had control over the so-called ‘Cape Dutch’ area until 1795 when the British stepped in. A botanist named Virgil realizes that Claas has a deep knowledge of the South African flora and puts him in charge of the prison garden. Rijkhaart becomes one of his helpers and then eventually his lover. At first their relationship is joked about and ignored, but eventually simmering tensions between some of the other prisoners and the guards becomes too much to ignore.

Greyson combines this intimate historical drama with fun quirks such as incorporating modern technology like typewriters complete with busybody secretaries that give us historical context for courtroom scenes. The scenes towards the end of the film are of course saddening, but this is the 18th century and it would be dishonest to present a ‘happily-ever-after’ scenario.

If you like this film stay tuned because there will definitely be more classic queer gems like this one to grace Dekkoo in the future!

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Watch ’em with: A friend or two who like historical dramas.

Mix it with: A white wine.

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DEKKOO DISPATCH 026 – ‘Animals’

Title – ‘Animals‘

Director – Marçal Forés

Starring – Oriol Pla, Augustus Prew, Dimitri Leonidas, Roser Tapias

Release Date – 2012

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Happy Outfest! I hope everyone who’s in sunny Los Angeles is having lots of fun and watching lots of sexy cinema at the film festival. If you’re not in LA then you should join in on the fun by watching the Outfest award-winning film ‘Animals‘ on Dekkoo which took home the Artistic Achievement prize back in 2013. I’m really psyched this film finally has arrived because it’s one of my all time favorites!! This is the first feature film of Marçal Forés who also directed ‘Everlasting Love‘ and while the two films are actually very different thematically, they’re very similar in regards to gorgeous cinematography (by Eduard Grau – ‘A Single Man’), exciting musical choices, and extremely attractive men. The soundtrack to the film in on vinyl and it’s one of my most played records. Soooo good!

When I was growing up there was always lots of talk about having an imaginary friend. I was always sort of jealous when I’d watch movies and all these kids that were my age had this intense connection to something that I couldn’t really fathom. I wanted to be crazy too!! While I didn’t have an imaginary friend I certainly had a favorite teddy bear. I slept with it every night all the way through high school in fact (there were one or two replacements along the way). But right when I went to college he went in the closet and I don’t really miss him. In the film ‘Animals‘ though a teddy bear named Deerhoof is both Pol’s imaginary best friend and sole companion.

Deerhoof can walk and talk (in English bizarrely enough!) and talks to Pol about life, music, and comic books. Early on in the film we see Deerhoof grabbed by a dog and we get our first glimpse of how attached Pol is to his best friend and companion. But its not only the dogs that want to steal away Deerhoof, but also Pol’s brother who you can tell used to have a closer relationship before he joined the police force. Now he just acts as a demanding parental figure that wants Pol to get rid of Deerhoof and face reality. Luckily Pol has a few friends at school like Laia (who has a major crush on him) and Mark.

Complicating Pol’s serene yet angsty life of comic books and cool Spanish punk music is Ikari, the new incredibly sexy boy in school. Pol can’t keep his eyes off him and eventually Ikari lets him inside a world that well… I don’t want to ruin the surprise, but the film definitely takes a turn! I feel like I’ve been making this movie seem normal minus the teddy bear, BUT IT’S NOT! Most people compare it to ‘Donnie Darko’ and I can’t really argue against that. It’s very surreal, goes unexpected places, and is quite serene and thought-provoking by the end. I had the privilege of being able to talk to the director right after watching it for the first time and I immediately asked him how much of an influence the short film ‘BUGCRUSH’ (which happens to be my favorite short film of alllll time) had on it and he smiled knowingly and said, ‘Quite a bit’. So if you’ve seen that then you know a little bit of the tone of the film at least.

Take a trip with Pol, Deerhoof, and the rest of the gang in the genre-bending and very queer film ‘Animals‘. On Dekkoo now!

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Watch it with: With a few of your ‘cool’ friends.

Mix it with: Being stoned sativa-style works for this one.

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DEKKOO DISPATCH 025 – ‘The Country Teacher’

Title – ‘The Country Teacher‘

Director – Bohdan Sláma

Starring – Pavel Liška, Zuzana Bydžovská, Ladislav Šedivý, Marek Daniel

Release Date – 2008

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It’s Wednesday!! Only 2 more workdays until 4th of July weekend! I don’t know what your plans are, but I’m venturing into the desert and drinking Tiki drinks poolside for 4 days straight. Heaven… Did everyone see the exciting news about ‘Screwed’ being picked up by Dekkoo out of Frameline?? I’ve seen it and it’s an incredibly sexy Finnish tale of first lust with a great sense of humor about it. I talked to a few people who saw it at the sold-out screening at Frameline and they said it was a super high energy screening. Get psyched!

As a city-living boy for most of my life I’ve always romanticized the life lived in the countryside. When I saw ‘The Country Teacher‘ at the Miami Gay and Lesbian Film Festival back in 2008 it completely fed into that romanticism and I was swept away by the golden fields of hay and the ancient practice of drawing of water from wells. Of course we’re also talking about a movie from the Czech Republic so in addition to the romantic stuff we’re also talking about insane Eastern European drunks that harass people and beat each other up. Although come to think of it that seems sorta romantic as well…

Anyways let’s talk about the characters at the heart of this emotional drama. Petr is a teacher that decides to move to the countryside from the busy city for unspecified reasons. After arriving and settling in (his landlord/boss gives him 6 months before he can’t stand the small town anymore and runs away) he falls asleep on a bed of hay and wakes up to find Marie standing over him, the woman who owns the farm he’s wandered into. She’s kind to him and invites him out to socialize with some of the villagers. He comes to realize that Marie is falling in love with him, but he’s too awkward to admit what we here at Dekkoo realize right away… he’s gay. He really likes her and feels affection for her, but he’s much more interested in her teenage son and offers his teaching skills to become more ingrained in his life.

I don’t want to go into much more detail because Petr goes through quite a journey in the film and it’s very emotional. By the end of the film you’ll absolutely fall in love with Marie who is so unbelievably kind and I fear that there aren’t many of her sort left in the world. ‘The Country Teacher‘ is a striking picture that combines the best of European art-house cinema and Queer self-discovery cinema into one wondrous picture that will leave you swooning.

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Watch it with: By yourself or someone else that won’t talk much. It’s very meditative.

Mix it with: Coffee.

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DEKKOO DISPATCH 024 – ‘I’M FINE’ IS BACK!

Title – ‘I’m Fine‘

Director – Brandon Kirby

Starring – Perry Powell, Lee Doud, Shaughn Buchholz, Ulysses Morazan

Release Date – 2017

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The wait is finally over! Episodes 5-8 of Dekkoo’s Original Series ‘I’m Fine‘ are online for your immediate on-the-go entertainment. Nate, Jeff, Andy, Brian, and yes even the legendary love-of-Nate’s-life Joey are back in action!

After binging the last 4 episodes of Season 1 I had soooo many questions for director Brandon Kirby. Below are a few of them for your enjoyment:

FD: So at the end of episode 4 Jeff reveals his more-than-friends feelings for Nate which to me was what I was most excited about with the release of episodes 5-8. Has that situation ever happened to you?

BK: Since moving to LA, I’ve played the Jeff role in that scenario numerous times, admitting my feelings to friends of mine, and once I was in the Nate position. With that friend, we actually ended up trying to be romantic with each other, but ultimately decided we are DEFINITELY only meant to be very close friends.

FD: Was there any inspiration for that hilarious party scene in Episode 5?

BK: The whole situation with the grandma’s painting, that actually happened to me a couple years ago at a house party in Hollywood on New Year’s Eve. I was drunk, waiting in line for the bathroom and bumped into a painting on the wall. The host called me out for it. The version of that happening in Ep5 is obviously dramatized.

FD: Speaking of dramatized… from money-hungry party hosts, to shady pool boy escorts, to awkward brunch guests you’ve painted a slightly depressing view of LA. At the end of the day do you have a positive view of gay life in Los Angeles or are we all doomed?

BK: Ha! I mean, we might all be doomed for other reasons. But in terms of Los Angeles and West Hollywood specifically, I do love living here but it took me a while – years, actually – to fully come around to it. So, in that time in between, I found a lot of the flaws and a lot of the things in the gay community that, y’know, aren’t the best. But of course any skewering I’m doing here comes from a place of love.

FD: You’ve teased a lot of new characters in the second half of Season 1. Which of them are you most excited to explore?

BK: I’m excited to explore Jeff’s roommate Louis, who we haven’t met before, and their new mutual friend Zachary, who plays an especially important role in Season 2.

FD: Well then you should totally dish on what’s going to happen in Season 2!

BK: Let’s just say the storylines go beyond just exploring why Nate is clinging to being “fine” but to his circle of friends, as well. We dive a bit deeper into everyone’s individual existential crises. And yes, it’s still a comedy!

FD: Well I’m super psyched for it. I’ll leave you alone after you tell me your top 3 films on Dekkoo.

BK: ‘Edge of Seventeen‘, ‘Concrete Night‘, & ‘Parting Glances‘

WATCH IT NOWWWW!

DEKKOO DISPATCH 023 – ‘EDGE OF SEVENTEEN’ AND ‘GO-GO REJECT’

Title – ‘Edge of Seventeen‘

Director – David Moreton

Starring – Chris Stafford, Lea DeLaria, Tina Holmes, Andersen Gabrych

Release Date – 1998

Title – ‘Go-Go Reject‘

Director – Michael J. Saul

Starring – Heath Daniels, Josh Babich, Korken Alexander

Release Date – 2010

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Hi everyone! We’re halfway through Pride Month now and I’m definitely not ready for it to be over yet. Tomorrow kicks off Frameline’s LGBTQ Film Festival in San Francisco which is always a great time. Let us know if you see any awesome films there you think should be added to Dekkoo!

Last week was a little on the dark side, so this week I’m lightening it up with two super cute ones! Start your movie night with a bit of glitter with ‘Go-Go Reject‘. Daniel is a your average queen that hangs out at go-go bars with friends and dreams of leaving his day job at Yogurt World. One day Daniel realizes he needs to fulfill his dreams of becoming a dancer. More specifically Daniel wants to be exactly like Jennifer Beals in ‘Flashdance’ minus the steel mill of course. Sadly Daniel isn’t exactly the hottest guy ever and can’t quite convince club owners to hire him so he takes matters into his own hands. The best thing about this short film is the unbridled enthusiasm of the main character played by Heath Daniels (who also stars in several other films by Michael J. Saul such as ‘Adults Only‘ which he also wrote!) and the really hot skinny guy he dances with at the end (call me!).

We’re traveling to the 80s gentlemen! Hold on to your mascara! Boom! The year is 1984 and it’s summer vacation. Eric Hunter is about to start his first day of work at a theme park in Sandusky, Ohio with his best friend Maggie. They both share a love of Toni Basil (Hey Mickey!), Eurythmics and making fun of their lame high school classmates, but right when Maggie seems to be having feelings for Eric that go beyond friendship Eric meets co-worker Rod. He’s older, sexy as hell, and is out and proud about being gay. Thus begins a sexual awakening for Eric that takes place over a year of his life, but only 103 minutes for us.

‘Edge of Seventeen‘ was written by Todd Stephens (‘Another Gay Movie’, ‘Another Gay Sequel‘) and was actually based on his life as a teen in Sandusky. Originally slated to direct the pic, the duty fell to his friend David Moreton (‘Testosterone’) at the last minute who took the reigns on this touching and ground breaking feature. The movie was filmed in 1998, but you’ll swear it was filmed in the 80s due to the awesome music (supposedly 80s music was unpopular to license at that point in the 90s so the filmmakers were able to get it for cheap), rad costuming (polyester everywhere!), and muted color grainy cinematography (filmed in 16mm and then blown up to 35mm). On Dekkoo we’re presenting the brand-new HD Restoration which looks gorgeous!

‘Edge of Seventeen‘ is one of those films where I could go on a very long rant about interesting facts. I’ll just talk about the case for brevity’s sake!

Chris Stafford who plays the main character, Eric actually left the world of acting shortly after starring in ‘Edge’ and became a lawyer. I was browsing the deep reaches of the internet one day and actually saw his speech from the University of Miami at his graduation where he was the class valedictorian!
You might find the girl who plays Maggie familiar. She plays the older sister character in the popular gay film ‘Shelter’.
Lea DeLaria who plays the lovable boss Angie is now super famous for her role in ‘Orange is the New Black’.
Andersen Gabrych (Rod) has a cameo role in every single Todd Stephens film. My favorite one is in ‘Another Gay Movie‘ where he gets puked on!

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Watch ’em with: A large group of fun queens!

Mix it with: One of those blue drinks.

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One Great Gay Shot – ‘Four’ (2012)

‘Four‘ – Available now on Dekkoo!