Category: Drama

Short Film Spotlight: Under the Crescent Moon

From the outset of Under the Crescent Moon, it’s clear that there is something going on between high school besties Abdul and Jerryl.

Constantly flirting and finding excuses to playfully touch one another, the two young men are inching ever closer to finally admitting their true feelings.

The problem lies in the societal and religious expectations that surround them. Abdul, who comes from a conservative Muslim family, feels deeply that his love for Jerryl is a direct affront to Allah – and his strict father, who has taken ominous notice of the boys’ affection, would likely agree.

An emotional 15-minute short film from the Philippines, Under the Crescent Moon tells a tender and ultimately heartbreaking coming-of-age story about young love.

Watch a quick trailer for Under the Crescent Moon below. The short film is now available on Dekkoo.

Brace yourself for Pierre Creton’s acclaimed, sexually-charged fever dream drama ‘A Prince’

In the blissful and forbidding French countryside, an enveloping, cross-generational saga unfolds between an attractive young gardening apprentice and the three much older men who are training him – all of whom become instrumental in his professional tutelage as well as his sexual coming-of-age.

Inspired by memories of his own teenage years, outsider artist and real-life farmer Pierre Creton isn’t afraid to confront taboos while crafting this truly unusual, austere gay drama.

Unfolding at a deliberately slow pace, A Prince fuses together science, sensuality and meditation – culminating in the most sexually-charged film about horticulture you’re ever likely to see.

Winner of the Best French-Language Film Prize in the Directors’ Fortnight section of the 2023 Cannes Film Festival, A Prince offers up a singular vision of a quietly eroticized natural world. Placing it at number two on his list of the Best Films of 2023, John Waters called it “slow, spooky and poetically fucked up – in other words, perfect.”

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

Short Film Spotlight: Skin to Skin

Frenetically paced and packed with gorgeous visuals, the deceptively titled short film Skin to Skin goes way beneath the surface, examining the unexpected emotional depth that can reveal itself during casual hook-ups.

Based on a conversation with an anonymous individual, credited only as ‘O’, the film uses actors to recreate the intimate moments that can occur just after sex between strangers concludes.

An unseen narrator shares a few stories about encounters with people whose post-coital conversation surprised him. Among them are a man grieving the recent loss of his father, a Brazilian immigrant looking for a new place to call home and a young woman learning to own and appreciate the literal scars of her past.

A subversively moving piece of work, Skin to Skin examines the no-strings-attached, faceless profiles of Grindr in an honest, destigmatized way and shows how casual hook-ups can sometimes lead to unexpectedly poignant connections – and also how, in some situations, it’s easier to reveal your innermost self to a total stranger.

Watch the trailer for Skin to Skin below. The short film is now streaming on Dekkoo.

Two dancers find their relationship threatened by ambition in the sensual drama ‘Dying Briefly’

Dying Briefly follows young performer Sebastian (Martín Saracho) who, shortly after joining an esteemed dance company, meets Arsenio (Joan Kuri), a charming and more experienced fellow dancer.

The two men quickly fall for one another, beginning an intense affair and soon becoming a couple.

When a manipulative new choreographer arrives with methods that begin to shake up the established group dynamics, the pair find themselves in crisis.

Now they must compete with one another for the same role while trying to stay true to themselves and their affection for one another. Will their relationship, and the troupe as a whole, survive the competition?

Like a gay male version of Black Swan, Dying Briefly is a captivating and thought-provoking romantic dance drama, exploring complicated issues of body image, bullying, and self harm with sexy and talented lead actors and impressive choreography that will sweep you off your feet.

Watch the trailer for Dying Briefly below. The film is now streaming on Dekkoo.

Short Film Spotlight: Eclipse of a Relationship

Three lead actors bare it all in Eclipse of a Relationship, a sexually-charged 9-minute short (originally titled Eclissi di un rapporto) from Italian writer-director Nino Zeno.

Unfolding largely without dialog, the film follows two men in a difficult relationship. The older, more dominant of the two has invited a third man to join them in the bedroom. Though it certainly spices things up, it also accelerates the inevitable decline of their feelings for one another.

Incredibly sensual and packed with both naked bodies and naked feelings, this poetic, deliberately ambiguous film takes on an eerily voyeuristic quality as the audience is invited to witness incredibly intimate events that no one was ever meant to see.

Watch the trailer for Eclipse of a Relationship below. The short film is now streaming on Dekkoo.

Khalil Ben Gharbia and Julien De Saint Jean star in the emotional queer prison drama ‘The Lost Boys’

In a youth correctional facility in France, Joe (Peter von Kant star Khalil Ben Gharbia) is preparing for his return to society, uncertain as to what life will look like on the other side of the barbed-wire fence.

When William (Lie with Me star Julien De Saint Jean), an alluring new arrival, moves into the cell next door, Joe’s desire for freedom quickly gives way to a desire of another kind.

The debut feature from director Zeno Graton, The Lost Boys charts the twists and turns of passion between these two young men who thought their lives had been put on hold.

Critically acclaimed and gorgeously crafted, the film offers a vision of love both tender and uncompromising, guaranteed to break and mend hearts in equal measure.

Watch the trailer for The Lost Boys below. The film is now streaming on Dekkoo.

Short Film Spotlight: (Il)legal Asterisk

Are we defined by how we see ourselves or how we’re perceived by the outside world?

An experimental, uniquely philosophical short from director Fabrizio Bancale, the 20-minute film (Il)legal Asterisk (originally titled Asterisco (Il)legale) employs three Italian actors (Bruno Petrosino, Orazio Rotolo Schifone and Mauro Toscanelli) to examine that very question.

Pulling from stories both personal and historical, the film playfully jumps around, introducing different settings and characters whose inherent queerness – and their ability to express themselves – has been either discouraged or outright destroyed by societal forces beyond their control.

Handling heavy topics with a light, charismatic touch, the film explores how expressing oneself, coming out and/or living life according to one’s own choices can cost dearly when the law of the land does not offers adequate protection.

With the fight for true freedom being far from over, (Il)legal Asterisk investigates our shared past while shedding a light on our present.

Watch the trailer for (Il)legal Asterisk below. The short film is now streaming on Dekkoo.