Category: Drama

Short Film Spotlight: Verona

Inspired by William Shakespeare’s Romeo and Juliet, Verona is the story of two young lovers separated by their rival fraternities.

Set in a small college town wherein young men are groomed for corporate success in All-American hyper competitive fashion, Verona presents the fate of star-crossed lovers in a society that condemns the very nature of their love.

Directed by Laurie Lynd (Breakfast with Scot), Verona features star actors known from DeGrassi, All My Children, The Best Years, Paradise Falls, Diary of a Wimpy Kid, Queer As Folk and more. This post-modern retelling of the greatest love story ever told brings to light the homophobic/homo-erotic dual nature of fraternity life, its perks and perils.

Verona was shot as something of a calling-card, to pave the way for public, private and corporate interest in a full-length feature film version. The project is one of passion for all those involved, hoping to present the nature of love in its truest form – and it shows.

Verona is available now on Dekkoo. Watch the trailer below.

Now Available: Nevrland

In the dark, sexy, psychological coming-of-age drama Nevrland, 17-year-old Jakob (Simon Frühwirth) struggles with crippling anxiety and takes refuge in the Internet. While on a cam-to-cam chat site, he meets 26-year-old artist Kristjan (Paul Forman)… and soon nothing in his life will be quite the same.

Caught between reality and fantasy, youth and adulthood, Jakob’s blurry process of sexual awakening is a psychedelic trip of hot, strange hallucinatory sequences of desire and madness that will bring you to the edge of your seat.

With vivid imagery and atmospherically dense scenes, director Gregor Schmidinger shows the process of sexual awakening and self-discovery as an existential journey in which the borders between reality and fantasy become increasingly blurred.

Along with Simon Früwirth as Jakob in his debut acting role, the cast also includes the Austrian star stand-up comedian and actor Josef Hader as Jakob’s stoic father.

Nevrland is a well-founded depth psychological coming-of-age film about the courage it takes to be oneself and the often daunting fear blocking the way.

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

New This Week – 3/19/21

Ernesto is a teenager who wanders, in search of himself, through the streets of Rome, beginning impromptu relationships and causing pain to himself and to others… until life forces him to grow up and face some hard truths. ‘Ernesto’ is available exclusively on Dekkoo!

It is the last day before Victor has to move to another city with his parents. So he and his best friend Robert do all the things they liked to do together so much: skateboarding, spraying, hanging out. But something is different this time. ‘Reel’ is streaming now on Dekkoo!

These nine short films from director Roberto Perez Toledo feature stories of connections and missed opportunities with an appearance from cupid, a zombie couple, and a secret admirer. ‘The Films of Roberto Perez Toledo’ are available now on Dekkoo!

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Coming next week: While shooting a film in a small town, a famous actor puts his personal life and career in jeopardy by starting an intense affair with another man.

Short Film Spotlight: Involuntary Activist

Aled (Rick Yale) is faced with an incredibly emotional dilemma when his sister tells him that his husband isn’t on the guest list to her wedding in Turkey.

Torn between alienating the sister he loves or doing something that goes against his own core values, Aled struggles to keep everyone happy.

Exploring the theme of conformity versus defiance – Involuntary Activist shows us how easy it is to stand for something in theory but what a different matter it is to stand for it in practice.

Filmed in Sweden, Involuntary Activist was written and directed by prolific short filmmaker Mikael Bundsen, a longtime protégé of Ruben Östlund (the internationally acclaimed director behind Force Majeure and The Square). His short Mother Knows Best (also available now on Dekkoo) competed at Berlinale and has won a number of awards, including the Iris Prize, and been screened worldwide, including Palm Springs, Thessaloniki and Sydney Film Festivals.

Involuntary Activist is available now on Dekkoo. Watch the trailer below.

A romantic encounter changes the life of a drag artist in the drama Your Eyes on Me

From writer-director Sergei Alexander, the British drama Your Eyes on Me tells the story of an experienced drag queen named Gloria (Paul Stone) whose life starts to change when she meets Kandi (Jean-Philippe Boriau) a younger drag-virgin who is auditioning for her next show.

As a bond begins to develop between Gloria and Kandi, their relationship takes an unexpected turn. Suddenly, the past, and the choices Gloria made as a young man, become a stark reality.

A Russian-born filmmaker who arrived in London in 2004, Alexander makes his feature-length debut with Your Eyes on Me. The film won major awards and acclaim at the 2020 London Independent Film Festival.

“Your Eyes on Me is a story of love, family, friendship and sexuality, one which can be read and interpreted on many different levels and through many different lenses,” said Alexander. “I hope that film will bring viewers on a thought-provoking and emotional journey, eliciting questions around their beliefs of love, self-acceptance and self-identity.”

Watch the trailer for Your Eyes on Me below. The film is available now on Dekkoo.

New This Week – 3/12/21

Interior designer and reality show star Farleigh Knock has a knack for keeping beautiful things, including Adonis-like Dennis, around his home. So when Farleigh gives him an unthinkable ultimatum for his 30th birthday–to get a job or get out–Dennis goes from Kept Boy to Lost Man. ‘Kept Boy’ is available now on Dekkoo!

This portrait chronicles life on the streets as seen through the eyes of a cross-dressing, homeless man named Leslie Cochran, one of the most beloved yet polarizing cult figures of Austin, Texas. Told with unapologetic humor, Leslie’s bizarre meteoric rise to iconic status is starkly contrasted with living life on his own terms in a changing world. Stream ‘Becoming Leslie’ now on Dekkoo!

‘Verona’ is the story of two young lovers separated by their rival fraternities. ‘Verona’ is available now on Dekkoo!

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Coming next week: Dekkoo Films presents a new gay film about a young man, in search of himself, discovering the streets of Rome.

New This Week – 3/5/21

Mario, a young dancer living in his small village has to face the loss of his beloved friend Lenz, victim of an attack in a gay club. ‘Why Not You’ is streaming exclusively on Dekkoo!

A young gay man finds how to love himself and accept love from another, despite the disapproval of his father. Watch ‘More Than Only’ now on Dekkoo!

An openly gay teacher must choose a course of action when his sister asks him to step back into the closet for her wedding in Turkey. ‘Involuntary Activist’ is available now on Dekkoo!

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Coming next week: A story of love, greed – and moisturizer.

Now Available: 7 Minutes

Written and directed by prolific short filmmaker Ricky Mastro, the hard-hitting drama 7 Minutes takes place in Toulouse and tells the story of Jean (accomplished French actor Antoine Herbez), a 55-year-old policeman who discovers his son, Maxime (Valentin Malguy), and his son’s boyfriend, Kevin (Paul Arvenne) hanged in a hotel room.

The autopsy shows that Maxime died from an overdose of GHB, just seven minutes after his boyfriend. During an evening organized by Maxime’s friends, Jean discovers the club BISOU, where his son used to go. There, he meets Fabien (Clément Naline).

Trying to know more about what happened to Maxime and Kevin, Jean goes to the club several times over and is quickly welcomed by the regulars, the Bisouers. But when Fabien becomes unusually attached to him, Jean starts mixing his mourning with a strong, possibly dangerous desire to discover more about his son’s world.

Watch the trailer for 7 Minutes below. The film is available now on Dekkoo.

New This Week – 2/26/21

17-year-old Jakob wants nothing more than to feel alive. Uncontrollable anxiety attacks prevent him from doing so and force him to escape into virtual worlds. One night, he meets 26-year-old Kristjan in a cam chat. Their encounter marks the beginning of a transpersonal journey to the wounds of their souls. ‘Nevrland’ is available to stream now on Dekkoo!

Two high school sweethearts, Luke and Jonah, spend their final months together over the course of a long, quiet summer in the rural South–a world of baseball, bicycles, church and green bean casserole–contemplating their uncertain future and the uncertain future of America. Stream ‘Last Summer’ now on Dekkoo!

Eduardo, a snob publicist who lives cranky most of the day and David, a shy student of literature are neighbors in a building under construction. After six months of hardly a greeting a scaffold intercedes between them causing unexpected reactions in each. ‘Scaffolding’ is streaming now on Dekkoo!

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Coming next week: A young dancer living in his small village has to face the loss of his beloved friend, the victim of an attack in a gay club.

Short Film Spotlight: Bror

Written and directed by prolific short filmmaker Isabella Carbonell, the fourteen-minute short film Bror (“Brother”) takes place on the soccer field, following two longtime buddies as they cagily broach the subject of taking their friendship to the next level.

Nico (Philip Oros) and Khalid (Poyan Karimi) are best friends – and always have been. Khalid was born in Iran, a country where having feelings for another man can lead to the death penalty. Nico was born in Sweden, a country where it’s openly accepted for a man to have a boyfriend. And yet it’s Nico who keeps holding back when Khalid tries to take their relationship further than it’s gone before.

Well-received on the international film festival circuit, Bror has also been used as an educational film at schools in Germany. The full short film is now available on Dekkoo.