Category: Drama

Short Film Spotlight: Two Words

British actors Henry Goodman and Sophia Myles deliver deeply emotional performances in the short drama Two Words.

The film follows Gavin (Goodman), a man in his mid-60s who is determined to finally be true to himself.

In order to do so, Gavin must reveal to his adult daughter (Myles) that he had been living a lie, concealing his sexuality throughout his 35 years of marriage.

From screenwriter David Blacker and director Jesper Emborg, Two Words tells a heartbreaking story of family, grief and self-realization.

Watch a short clip/trailer for Two Words below. The full 23-minute short film is now available on Dekkoo.

A seemingly straight guy comes to terms with his sexuality in the indie drama ‘That is All’

From writer-director Mark Weeden, That is All is an understated indie drama about a man trying to come to terms with the reality of who he is.

Sharing an apartment with his laidback roommate Paul (Daniel Bossenberry) and working a dull job that barely passes the time, Ryan, played by Joel Ballanger in a thoughtful and nuanced lead performance, finds himself consumed by loneliness as he enters his thirties.

What those around him don’t know is that Ryan is secretly struggling with his sexuality and finding comfort in online encounters with men.

At a birthday party for his friend Brad (Dan Tait Brown), Ryan meets Brad’s boyfriend Sam (Al Braatz) and the two hit it off. Ryan and Brad quickly become close and embark on an affair. At the same time, however, Ryan is stringing along Maya (Sara Hinding), a girl that has a crush on him.

Can Ryan come clean to himself and his friends about his sexuality? And, if so, can he do it without hurting anyone else in the process?

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

Not all is as it seems (or as it’s remembered) in the new French romance ‘Rosodium’

Suffering from severe panic attacks, introverted young engineer Noah (Thibaut Cattelin) has been looking for a way to re-live only his happiest moments. He’s been working on a complicated neurological experiment – a project which connects memory storage and immersive reality, allowing you to experience your best moments over and over again.

During an eventful road trip with his two best friends, he meets Lohan (Jules Bahloul), a bad-boy tattoo artist, and invites him along for the final week of their journey.

An attraction quickly develops between the two young men. Along the way, they experience all the exhilarating moments of first love. As their bond grows stronger, Lohan’s “live for the moment” attitude challenges Noah’s control, teaching him that in order to create happy memories, you need to take risks, make yourself vulnerable and be willing to experience some painful moments as well.

From French director Theodore Tomasz, Rosodium is a tender romance that plays with time and structure in unexpected ways.

Watch the trailer for Rosodium below. The film is now streaming on Dekkoo along with a 20-minute “making-of” documentary.

Acclaimed director Rodrigo Bellott returns with the phantasmagorical horror film ‘Blood-Red Ox’

Two lovers find themselves descending into a mysterious form of madness in the eerie new psychological thriller Blood-Red Ox.

Boyfriends Amir and Amat (played by Mazin Akar and Kaolin Bass) are invited on a trip into the South American rain forest, but their initially pleasant visit to Bolivia quickly takes a bizarre turn.

Amat starts having strange visions and loses his mind over the ghostly presence of a giant red ox. Amir finds that he must save his boyfriend from this dangerous paranoia, but he quickly realizes that he can’t trust anything or anyone around them – as he might be losing his mind too.

From Rodrigo Bellott, the writer-director behind the critically-acclaimed 2020 drama Tu Me Manques, Blood-Red Ox is a visionary, phantasmagorical gay horror film that aims to make your head spin.

Watch the trailer for Blood-Red Ox below. The film is now streaming on Dekkoo.

Short Film Spotlight: I Should Feed My Cat

A contemplative and sexually-frank short film from director Abram Cerda, I Should Feed My Cat opens on a rainy day in Belgium and follows Stefan, a Chilean man living in Brussels who is searching for a connection, but carries an intense fear of intimacy that may end up leading him astray.

Arriving at the apartment of an older man he met on Grindr, he’s dismayed to find hard drug paraphernalia. Later, when he encounters an old friend from back home, we find a glimmer of hope – but the walls that Stefan has built up around himself may be too strong to break through.

Featuring a quietly heartbreaking performance from lead actor Andres Cifuentes, I Should Feed My Cat perfectly captures the menancholy and isolation of being alone in a large foreign city.

Watch a mysterious short clip/trailer for the film below. I Should Feed My Cat is now streaming on Dekkoo.

Two young men share a fleeting connection in the gay romance ‘Boy Meets Boy’

Harry (Matthew J. Morrison) has been partying for two days when he meets Johannes (Alexis Koutsoulis) on the dance floor of a club in Berlin.

With only fifteen hours left until Harry’s flight back to London, Johannes offers to help him print his boarding pass. This mundane task leads to a day together, wandering the city.

The contrasts in their lives and values force them to confront their own truths and be completely honest – leading to a strong, romantic connection that is under an unusual time crunch.

Winner of the Grand Prize at the Rhode Island International Film Festival, director Dani Sanchez-Lopez’s Boy Meets Boy is about a brief encounter and a fleeting moment of happiness and possible love.

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

Director Eloy de la Iglesia’s controversial classic ‘Hidden Pleasures’ is now available in a new restoration

Highly controversial at the time of its release in 1977, Hidden Pleasures is one of the first films in the history of Spanish cinema to prominently feature gay characters and themes.

Directed by acclaimed underground filmmaker Eloy de la Iglesia, the film stars Simon Andreu as Eduardo, a wealthy, but lonely and deeply closeted bank manager in his forties.

Though he’s secretive about his sex life, Eduardo uses his social and economic position to win over young men. In one of his regular cruising sessions, he meets and falls head over heels for Miguel, an attractive young straight guy played by Tony Fuentes.

As Eduardo’s infatuation with the young man grows deeper, it sets up a complicated love triangle between the pair and Miguel’s girlfriend Carmen (Beatriz Rossat) – not to mention Rosa (Charo López), the older married neighbor with whom Miguel is having an affair.

Though it’s clearly a product of the 1970s, Hidden Pleasures was truly radical at the time of its release. Though it was initially banned be Spanish censors, it was championed by film critics who opposed the ongoing censorship in the years after Francisco Franco’s death.

The film’s premiere was met with massive street demonstrations by gay activists who came out in support of Eloy de la Iglesia’s bold new vision.

Watch a short clip from Hidden Pleasures below. The full, newly-restored film is now available on Dekkoo.