Category: Drama

A conservative politician keeps a boyfriend on the side in the erotic thriller ‘The Senator’

Brazilian Senator Arthur Alencar leads a double life. To the media and his constituents, he is a conservative champion of morality whose embrace of traditional family values has led to a surge in popularity.

Renan, his younger, long-suffering secret gay lover, gets to see a much different side of the charismatic politician – and it’s not always pretty.

Torn between his politics and his heart, Renan’s predicament intensifies when he starts falling in love with Victor, an ambitious journalist who is determined to expose the senator’s hypocritical life. But as the truth inches closer to the surface, it begins to spell grave danger for everyone involved.

From Brazilian filmmaker Mauro Carvalho, who co-directed About Us and Cousins with collaborator Thiago Cazado, The Senator is a sly and subversively sexy erotic thriller that doubles as a wicked satire of conservative politics.

Check out the poster for The Senator below. The film is now streaming on Dekkoo.

A father goes to great lengths to protect his son in the gripping drama ‘You’ll Never Be Alone’

Accomplished Chilean actor Sergio Hernández stars in You’ll Never Be Alone as Juan, the quiet, introverted manager of a mannequin factory who is hoping to be made partner after 25 years of devoted service.

At home, his 18-year-old son, Pablo (Andrew Bargsted), has dreams of stardom, studying dance at a respected art school. In addition to teaching neighborhood children choreographed dance numbers and clubbing with his best girlfriend on the weekends, Pablo’s life revolves around performing, auditioning and occasionally sneaking around to sleep with another boy from the neighborhood.

While Pablo and his widowed, hard-working dad don’t have a whole lot in common, neither seems to let that get in the way of caring for each other. Everything changes, however, when Pablo is brutally attacked by a group of homophobic kids.

With legal action and medical insurance proving costly, Juan makes the desperate decision to start seeking out his own form of justice.

Based on true events, this impressive debut film from musician Alex Anwandter tells a gripping story of betrayal and redemption. You’ll Never Be Alone is a stirring testament to a father’s love and a powerful treatise on Chile’s generational divide.

Watch the trailer for You’ll Never Be Alone below. The film is now streaming on Dekkoo.

Short Film Spotlight: One Like Him

A Jordanian man must find a way to tell his childhood friend and first love the truth about what happened twenty years ago, when a single moment changed both of their lives. When he can’t find the words, their conversation repeats, becoming increasingly surreal… until he loses control.

From director Caitlin French McLeod, One Like Him is a stirring 16-minute short about how the past influences the present.

Rooted in love and framed within a queer, Arab lens, the film is about how we grapple with the narratives imposed on us and how we must build our own narratives to express who we truly are – all while overcoming judgement, letting go of internalized shame and turning inwards to look for the answers.

Gorgeously crafted, One Like Him was screened at countless festivals worldwide, including multiple BAFTA and Academy Awards-qualifying events, picking up numerous awards along the way.

Watch a teaser for One Like Him below. The short film is now streaming on Dekkoo.

‘The Prodigy’ is now available to rent or buy from all major streaming platforms!

From the producers behind House of the Devil and The Innkeepers comes a bone-chilling new descent into queer psychosexual horror.

Beau Swartz stars in The Prodigy as Adam, a street hustler who has just about given up on life. At the start of the film, he’s picked up by a mysterious trick whose seemingly sinister intentions go largely unnoticed. Adam can’t even muster up the energy to care about his own fate.

He accompanies this man to his isolated home in the desert and soon finds himself held captive – stuck at the mercy of a psychopath whose dark history prevents him from understanding the difference between reality and his own murderous fantasies. As Adam sits locked away in confinement, he finally begins searching his soul… and finds himself faced with an important decision. Should he give up on life completely… or fight like hell to keep it?

Directed by prolific filmmaker Omar Salas Zamora and co-written by frequent collaborator Calvin Picou (who delivers a truly menacing performance as the titular prodigious psychopath), The Prodigy is an unexpected, genre-bending follow-up to their gritty 2020 drama Adam in Fragments. While that film followed Adam during his earlier days on the streets, you don’t need to have seen it to enjoy or understand this one. Both movies function as stand-alone pieces of work that happen to follow the same character.

The Prodigy finds the versatile filmmaking duo sharpening their horror skills – and ‘sharp’ is the right word. This film is not for the squeamish. If you’re looking for lighter fare, we highly recommend the Dekkoo-originals Here Comes Your Man and Nothing But Flowers, two projects from Zamora and Picou that feature far less bloodshed and a whole lot more gay romance! For those who aren’t afraid to get a little twisted, we can’t recommend The Prodigy more highly.

Watch the teaser trailer for The Prodigy below. The film is now available to rent or buy from all major platforms, including Dekkoo.

Musician Mark Clennon delivers a stunning performance in the gripping gay drama ‘I Don’t Know Who You Are’

After suffering a sexual violation at the hands of a stranger, Toronto-based musician Benjamin (Mark Clennon) must pull together the money for HIV-preventive treatment in the event that he’s been exposed to the virus – while also trying to avoid the man he’s just started dating.

Short of cash and determined to solve the problem himself, Benjamin spends a frantic weekend trying to raise the necessary funds… and he only has 72 hours to do so.

In his first feature, writer-director M. H. Murray filters his own real-life experience through the character of Benjamin, whom he and lead actor Mark Clennon created in their 2020 short film Ghost.

Bracing and unapologetically provocative, I Don’t Know Who You Are is all about inner conflicts forcing themselves to the surface, with an additional level of commentary on how hard it is to simply exist in Toronto without money or status.

The film also features a powerhouse performance from Clennon, a Toronto artist and poet who also serves as the film’s producer and story editor, in addition to writing and performing all of Benjamin’s songs.

Watch the trailer for I Don’t Know Who You Are below. The film is now streaming on Dekkoo.

‘The Harvesters’ explores sexuality, masculinity, and religion in a conservative farming community

The Harvesters follows Janno (Brent Vermeulen), a South African teen from a very particular type of family. His parents are deeply invested in religion, white Afrikaner solidarity and their farm. A sensitive boy, Janno’s interests lie elsewhere.

When his parents decide to bring a troubled, but charismatic kid named Pieter (Alex van Dyk) into the household, a struggle for dominance soon ensues.

As Pieter slyly draws various family members under his spell, Janno begins to sense that he’s being replaced as the favored son. The boys soon start a dangerous fight for power, heritage and parental love that will change both of their lives forever.

A stirring, subtly homoerotic take on the myth of Cain and Abel, The Harvesters explores repressed sexuality, religion and masculinity in the deep South African countryside. The feature-length debut of Greek-African filmmaker Etienne Kallosis, the film offers up tense and pitiless drama about the intersection of familial and cultural dynamics.

Watch the trailer for The Harvesters 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.

Get seduced by the erotic, mystical queer allegory and stoner comedy ‘A Dim Valley’

Young actors Whitmer Thomas and Zach Weintraub star in A Dim Valley as ecology grad students Albert and Ian.

The pair are spending the summer collecting samples with their curmudgeonly advisor played by ‘Midnight Mass’ and ‘The Haunting of Hill House’ star Robert Longstreet. At his woodsy cabin along the Appalachian Trail, close quarters foster comical friction and unexpected bonds between the two young men.

When three mysterious, enigmatic female backpackers (played by Rachel McKeon, Feathers Wise and Rosalie Lowe) crash into their lives, they push the men to open up to one another… and their true feelings and desires soon begin to deepen.

A clever new indie gem from writer-director Brandon Colvin, A Dim Valley is partly a queer allegory, partly a hilarious stoner comedy and partly a transcendental meditation on mysticism and love.

Watch the trailer for A Dim Valley below. The film is now streaming on Dekkoo.