Category: Gay Film

‘The Sons of Tennessee Williams’ charts the evolution of the Mardi Gras drag scene

Paying homage to monumental queer documentaries like The Queen and Paris is Burning, director Tim Wolff’s film The Sons of Tennessee Williams interweaves archival footage with contemporary interviews to chart the evolution of drag and politics in the gay Mardi Gras scene.

Having come of age in New Orleans in the 1940s and ’50s, gay krewe members reminisce fondly of being inspired by the opulence of the Mardi Gras festivities, a hotbed for decadence and dress-up.

Seven years before the first rock was thrown at Stonewall, the gay krewes began throwing lavish balls as a sendup of their straight society counterparts and have since become a powerful force in city politics.

Members, many of them now in their seventies and eighties, discuss the importance of creating safe spaces at a time of police crackdowns in gay clubs, gaining a seat at the political table, the toll of AIDS and Hurricane Katrina on the community, and the importance of passing on the torch to a younger generation.

With oversized wigs and lavish costumes, these unlikely political activists strut their stuff with style, grace, and an eye toward the future.

Watch the trailer for The Sons of Tennessee Williams below. The documentary is now streaming on Dekkoo.

A troubled teen finds love in the emotional Canadian indie ‘Beneath the Skin’

Writer and co-director Aaron Ellis also stars in the sensitive gay indie Beneath the Skin as Joshua, a young man who is forced to move to Canada to live with his estranged father after his living situation falls apart.

Once there, Joshua meets Jay (Justin Liles), a local tattoo artist who fled the violent actions of his parents back home in Alabama.

Both young men, abandoned and lonely in their own way, find themselves falling for one another… until a pair of high school brats intrude on the boys’ growing relationship.

Originally released in 2015, this quiet, sensual romance is celebrating its 10th anniversary this year. Though it’s not a very well-known film, it won numerous awards at film festivals when it originally screened. It’s worth checking out if only for the two leads, who share a magical chemistry in the film – and will leave you both swooning and reaching for the tissues.

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

Visionary filmmaker João Pedro Rodrigues takes a wild, metaphysical trip with ‘The Ornithologist’

Fernando (Paul Hamy), a strapping young ornithologist, is on an epic journey, searching for endangered black storks along a remote river in Northern Portugal.

Suddenly, he finds himself swept away by the rapids. Rescued by a mysterious pair of Chinese pilgrims, he is soon plunged into a dark, eerie forest while trying desperately to get himself back on track.

As he encounters unexpected and uncanny obstacles – along with a variety of people who put him to the test – Fernando is driven to extreme, transformative actions. Gradually he becomes a different man: inspired, multifaceted and finally enlightened.

From acclaimed Portuguese filmmaker Jọo Pedro Rodrigues, the director behind the sexually explicit queer classic O Fantasma, The Ornithologist is a mind-bending arthouse delight Рa metaphysical gay adventure film packed with delicious homoeroticism and absurdist humor.

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

Short Film Spotlight: Physical Therapy

Jason Genao, star on the Netflix series ‘The Get Down’ and ‘On My Block,’ leads the short comedy Physical Therapy as a cute young doctor faced with a difficult life decision.

Genao plays Ronnie, an openly gay doctor whose life takes an unexpected turn following an innocent mistake at work. Young and deeply compassionate, though somewhat naïve, he doesn’t let the incident deter him from getting back on his feet and doing what is right.

When he’s faced with a tricky ultimatum – keep his unstable job working with low-income communities or take a financially-attractive new job at a private practice for children of the mega-rich – he’s forced to reexamine his ideals and his future.

A passion project, Physical Therapy was created in an effort to celebrate the lives of brown, Latinx and LGBTQ+ health care and physiotherapy workers… whose stories have been, up to this point, largely invisible in Hollywood productions.

Watch a short trailer for Physical Therapy below. The film is now streaming on Dekkoo.

Two Hawaiian schoolboys fall in love in the heartwarming new romance ‘My Partner’

Two high school boys from seemingly different worlds fall in love in My Partner, a charming and colorful new gay romance from Hawaii.

Directed by Kanaka Maoli filmmaker Keli’i Grace and based on an original story by Lance D. Collins, the film explores the relationship between Edmar (played by Jayron Munoz), a high-achieving Filipino student, and Pili (played by Kaipo Dudoit), a Native Hawaiian student-athlete.

As they navigate budding young love and self-growth in Hawaii, their journey reflects the complexities of the area’s evolving cultural landscape.

Sexy, heartwarming and deeply romantic, My Partner breaks some new ground, offering up a unique take on love and identity and marking the first time that the wildly popular ‘Boys Love’ subgenre has been portrayed through a modern Hawaiian story.

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

A religious man faces intense urges in the acclaimed Polish drama ‘In the Name of’

Released to great acclaim in 2013, In the Name of is a powerful, sensitive and complex religious drama about a lonely, but devout Polish priest who is struggling with his sexuality.

The story follows Father Adam (Andrzej Chyra), an attractive man who joined the priesthood at a young age – mainly in an effort to outrun his desires. Having been transferred from Warsaw to the countryside, he is tasked with running a home for troubled boys.

Initially, Father Adam commands great respect as he supervises the boys in work, study and sport. His sexual urges are ignited, however, when the young wife of one of his assistants makes an unsuccessful pass. Though he’s not interested in women, there is one youth in particular that has caught his eye: the strangely quiet, long-haired Lukasz (Mateusz Kosciukiewicz).

His faith and commitment to celibacy prevents him from acting on his urges until a playful game in a wheat field with ignites his passion and compels him to act on his physical desires. When rumors begin to spread about his sexuality, his future at the school and his relationship with Lukasz are threatened.

Winner of the coveted Teddy Award at the 63rd Berlin International Film Festival, In the Name of is an impassioned, eloquent and, at times, humorous queer melodrama from director Malgorzata Szumowska about a man of faith consumed with forbidden love and longing.

Watch the trailer for In the Name of below. The film is now streaming on Dekkoo.

A star-studded new documentary explores the life of legendary fashion icon Antonio Lopez

The riveting documentary Antonio Lopez 1970: Sex Fashion & Disco doubles as a time capsule of Paris and New York City between 1969 and 1973 – as viewed through the eyes of Antonio Lopez, the dominant fashion illustrator of the time.

A native of Puerto Rico who was raised in The Bronx, Antonio was a seductive arbiter of style and glamour. Beginning in the 1960s, he brought elements of the urban street to a postwar fashion world desperate for change and diversity.

Counted among Antonio’s discoveries – and muses of the period – were iconic beauties such as Grace Jones, Jessica Lange and Jerry Hall, as well as Warhol Superstars Donna Jordan, Jane Forth and Patti D’Arbanville.

Antonio’s inner circle was also comprised of his romantic and creative partner, Juan Ramos, makeup artist Corey Tippin, photographer Bill Cunningham, and rival designers Karl Lagerfeld and Yves Saint-Laurent.

All these characters and more come together in this acclaimed film from director James Crump, creating a vivid portrait of Lopez and the revolutionary fashion world he helped create.

Watch the trailer for Antonio Lopez 1970: Sex Fashion & Disco below. The documentary is now streaming on Dekkoo.