Category: Drama

New This Week – 8/21/20

Dekkoo Films presents, ‘THE LAWYER‘. Life drifts by for gay corporate lawyer Marius, his time spent teasing friends and chasing young lovers. One day, Marius’ estranged father dies. Mourning turns to love as the lawyer finds an unanticipated connection with a sex-cam worker Ali – a Syrian refugee stuck in Belgrade. ‘The Lawyer’ is available exclusively on Dekkoo!

In an underground parking garage in Iran, a car thief stumbles upon two discreet male lovers sharing a moment of intimacy. ‘Parking’ is available now, exclusively on Dekkoo!

A couple in love from Baja California Mexico are in the middle of the preparations for a huge wedding, the only problem is that their marriage is not legal, since they are both male. ‘No Dress Code Required’ is now streaming on Dekkoo!

Dream House tells a delayed-coming-of-age story about becoming one’s true self

In Dream House, the skillfully-made new 31-minute short from director Jeff Bemiss, flashbacks chronicle the life of the O’Brien family – starting in the 1960s when they reigned as an ideal neighborhood family, through to the 1990s… when things have taken a turn.

Elderly matriarch Ginnie (Carol Lambert) lives in seclusion with her gay son, Mark (Ryan Farley). It’s a bit of a Grey Gardens situation. While their idealized family home is falling apart, Mark finds himself trapped in limbo, waiting for his adult life to begin. Ginnie just can’t seem to let go of the past and Mark, a dutiful, caring son, can’t let go of her.

The pair are visited periodically by Mark’s younger brother Dickie (Sean Harris). Now in his thirties, Dickie is an extremely successful businessman who seems to have a model family of his own. There are, however, big cracks in the foundation of the life that he’s built. Like Mark and his mother, Dickie will have to revisit the past in order to move forward into his future.

Mark also finds himself increasingly torn between his dreamlike past and an uncertain future when Ginnie hires Ted (Lance A. Williams), an “on the cheap” handyman, to start fixing up the house. As Ted befriends Mark and the romantic chemistry between them becomes apparent, he starts seeing a new life for himself beyond what he ever considered possible.

Co-written by Kevin Commins and David Lally, based on Lally’s stage play of the same name, Dream House features a terrific ensemble cast comprised mostly of accomplished stage actors making their film debut. The story they come together to tell packs an emotional punch.

Watch an extended trailer for Dream House below. The film is now available on Dekkoo.

Now Available: Bitter Years

One of the founders of the Italian Homosexual Liberation Movement, created at the beginning of the 1970s, Mario Mieli was an activist, intellectual, writer, performer and a key figure on the Italian cultural scene.

Though he committed suicide at the age of thirty, he lived a busy and full life, leaving an impression on LGBTQ culture in Italy together with his friends like architect Corrado Levi, painter Piero Fassoni, singer Ivan Cattaneo, activist Angelo Pezzana, writer Fernanda Pivano and poet Milo De Angelis.

Starring Nicola Di Benedetto in the lead role, Bitter Years traces the ups and downs of Mieli’s short, but influential life. According to Andrea Adriatico, the film’s director, “He liked to provoke and to be an innovator but, today, his thought has been completely forgotten.”

“A son of the upper middle class and second to last of seven children, he spent an entire life having a complicated relationship with his parents, Water and Liderica, and the last years of his life were spent with his lover Umberto Pasti, in a very difficult and intense love story.”

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

New To Dekkoo – 8/13/20

Yoav’s demons start haunting him after his best friend becomes pregnant without telling him, and after his boyfriend of 15 years starts talking about children too. His life unravels, and self-destruction seems inevitable. ’15 Years’ is available now exclusively on Dekkoo!

Saul is a deeply insecure young man who can barely grasp the concept of an active sex life. Orlando is a confident university gymnast who does not allow his HIV-positive status to define him. When these two opposites meet by accident, their differing personalities offer them a completely new way of seeing life, one without fear or judgement. Dekkoo Films presents, ‘The Day Began Yesterday’ – exclusively on Dekkoo!

‘Game Face’ sheds light on coming out journeys of LGBTQ+ athetes. This award-winning documentary tells the parallel stories of Fallon Fox, the first female transgender pro MMA fighter, and Terrence Clemens, a college basketball player in Oklahoma, who happens to be gay. ‘Game Face’ is available to stream now on Dekkoo!

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Coming next week: Dekkoo Films presents ‘The Lawyer’.

The award-winning short film Alaska is a Drag tells a fish out of water story… literally

The short film Alaska is a Drag, now available on Dekkoo, is a fish out of water story… literally. The film’s hero, Leo (Martin L. Washington Jr.), is an aspiring superstar stuck working in a fish cannery in Alaska. Leo sees disco balls in the scales of the fish he slices. Everyone who slices fish all day, daydreams – Leo’s are just more glamtastic.

Most of the time, Leo and his twin sister Tristen (Maya Washington) are left to fend for themselves. To escape the monotony of fist fights and fish guts, they create their own magic, the Northern Lights follow them as they vogue down a woodsy path.

They hang out at the one gay bar in a hundred miles, owned by their surly surrogate mom – Jan (Margaret Cho).

Their real mom (Nia Peeples) left years ago and their dad George (Kevin Daniels) preaches on the side of the road. After years of getting beat up by his former best friend, Kyle (Christopher O’Shea), Leo has learned to fight back – his skills catch the eye of his cannery boss, an amateur boxer (Jason Scott Lee) who offers to train him to be a fighter.

And when the new kid in town, Declan (Matt Dallas), wants to be his sparring partner – Leo’s worlds begin to collide, Tristen enters Leo in a drag competition – he’s never performed for anyone but her – the drag audition falls on the same day as the qualifying round for boxing and Leo has to face the real reason he’s afraid to leave Alaska.

Watch the trailer for Alaska is a Drag below. The film is now available on Dekkoo.

 

Watch the trailer for the new Dekkoo Original Film Variações: Guardian Angel

Born in the small village of Amares, in the north of Portugal, António Variações was a unique man. At an early age, unhappy with his life working at a local factory, he came to Lisbon to stay with some relatives. But he was different and he wanted more. He wanted to travel and see the world and he emigrated, starting to work as a barber.

But his love for music and performance soon became so strong that he came back so he could sing in his own language. His looks and outfits, however, led him to become a victim of prejudice. He managed to persevere. Even without knowing anything about music he fought for his right to do it the way he believed it was best.

A stylish new biopic, Variações: Guardian Angel, a new Dekkoo Films Original, tells a story about music and about fighting for what we believe.

Watch the trailer for Variações: Guardian Angel below. The film is now available on Dekkoo.

New This Week – 8/7/20

Arrate is an elderly woman who receives a phone call from the hospital: her son Koldo is in a critical condition. She arrives to the hospital and finds him on a coma. During her stay at the hospital she will soon begin to realize that she knows nothing about his son’s life. ‘Puntu Koma’ is available now on Dekkoo!

Shane Bitney Crone’s plans to marry Tom Bridegroom in California after the same-sex marriage law is passed takes a tragic turn when his partner of six years accidentally dies and Tom’s family refuses Shane from attending the funeral. Watch ‘Bridegroom’ now on Dekkoo!

Flashbacks chronicle the O’Brien family from the 1960s when they reign as Suffield’s ideal family, through the 1990s when elderly matriarch Ginnie lives in seclusion with her gay son, Mark. ‘Dream House’ is available now on Dekkoo!

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Coming next week: A gay Israeli architect in a committed relationship is undone when the specter of parenthood is raised.

Jeremiah is a well-crafted nine-minute coming-out horror story

“When I was little, my mom used to read these stories to me and my brother, like these old folk tales. One of them was about this man who was so alone, so angry that he turned himself into a monster.”

A chilling allegory about repression, loneliness and coming out, writer-director Kenya Gillespie’s Jeremiah packs some serious suspense into its short nine-minute running time.

At the start of the film, we meet the title character, Jeremiah (Alan Trong), sitting alone on the bleechers, surrounded by both a literal and figurative darkness that threatens to engulf him. An attractive high school football player, he’s reeling from an unfortunate and unexplained encounter with his coach. His equally cute friend and teammate seeks to console him, but there is a mysterious masked figure lurking in the background which forces Jeremiah to look deeper at the true cause of his fears.

Jeremiah is Kenya Gillespie’s narrative short film debut and it shows incredible promise. With spare, careful cinematography and a string-heavy soundtrack that sends chills down your spine, you can easily imagine him expanding Jeremiah into an “elevated horror” feature on par with Hereditary or It Follows.

The film received its international premiere at the 2019 Cannes Film Festival where it was nominated for the short film Queer Palm. Gillespie was also nominated for the 2019 Kodak Excellence in the Craft of Filmmaking Award. His documentary short The Crystal City and narrative short Pray for Dottie were winners of the 2018 and 2019 RTF Longhorn Denius Student Showcase at SXSW.

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

 

 

 

The critically-acclaimed British drama Into the Mirror comes to Dekkoo

One of the past year’s most critically-acclaimed LGBTQ films, the gorgeous, haunting, colorful and deeply emotional Into the Mirror is now available on Dekkoo.

The feature-length debut of co-writers Charles Streeter and Jamie Bacon (who also star in the film) and director Lois Stevenson, Into the Mirror follows Daniel, a young man struggling with an inner identity that is desperate to be released.

After leaving his father’s home and moving to London, Daniel’s subconscious desires begin to take control of his everyday waking life. Upon finding London’s drag hot-spot, “Lost & Found” nightclub, he begins to realize the truth about his gender and sexuality – even if he’s not fully ready to accept it. One way or another, his life will never have to be the same again.

Featuring exceptional performances and cinematography, Into the Mirror marks the arrival of numerous creative talents worth keeping an eye on. Both prolific actors in the UK, Streeter and Bacon show a terrific flair for timely, personal storytelling and we can’t wait to see what they will do next.

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

New This Week – 7/31/20

‘Bitter Years’ is a drama based on the life of Mario Mieli, one of the founders of the Italian Homosexual Liberation Movement, created at the beginning of the 1970s. He was an activist, intellectual, writer and performer – a key figure on the Italian cultural scene. ‘Bitter Years’ is a streaming exclusively on Dekkoo!

A man ridicules his wife’s fascination for masculinity, but she’s dead serious. Watch ‘A Double Life’ now on Dekkoo!

Leo stands out in a crowd. That’s not always a good thing working in a fish cannery in Alaska. His dreams of leaving this small town are hard fought, until a new boy moves to town and sees him for who he really is (an international superstar). ‘Alaska is a Drag’ is available to stream now on Dekkoo!

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Coming next week: An ederly woman begins to learn that she knows nothing about her son.