Category: Gay Film

Cicada is a feast for the eyes as well as the heart

Co-written by Matthew Fifer and Sheldon D. Brown, who also star in the film, the must-see new indie comedy-drama Cicada examines inter-racial relationships, bisexual identity and sexual abuse while also exploring the intricacies of falling in love and how that can go hand-in-hand with uncovering uncomfortable truths about one’s self along the way.

Fifer, who also co-directs with Kieran Mulcare, stars as Ben a young bisexual man who, after a string of unsuccessful encounrers with women, decides it’s time to go “back on the dick.” He soon develops an intense relationship with Sam (Brown), a man of color struggling with deep wounds. As their summer romance progresses and their intimacy grows, Ben’s past begins crawling to the surface – putting the pair’s still-burgeoning love affair in jeopardy.

Co-starring Cobie Smulders, David Burtka and SNL breakout star Bowen Yang, Cicada is easily one of the most acclaimed gay films of the past several years. Vogue said that it “will stay with you long after the credits roll.” And The Jam Report called it “one of the most beautifully-crafted pieces of queer cinema of recent times.” We firmly agree with both assessments.

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

Short Film Spotlight: Good Night

When Aram (Yianni Katsifas), a young Armenian man who only recently came out of the closet, goes out on a first date with the much more confident and experienced Jason (Robert Walker Jeffery), he must decide how far he’s willing to go in order to make sure they both have a good time.

When they go back to Aram’s place, his nervousness and uncertainty about what he wants leads to some majorly awkward – and boldly sexually-explicit – tension in bed. Taking place almost in real time, Good Night is a deeply unabashed 10-minute short about a sexual encounter that never quite gels.

Gorgeously shot in crisp black and white and featuring committed performances from lead actors Katsifas and Jeffrey, the film captures how uncomfortable it can be to hook up with someone when you’re not totally on the same page – especially when the whole experience is new to you.

Good Night is now available on Dekkoo.

Now Available: French director André Téchiné’s acclaimed coming-of-age drama ‘Being 17’

From André Téchiné, the renowned writer-director behind the queer classic Wild Reeds, comes Being 17, a moving exploration of unexpected adolescent love.

Damien and Thomas (Kacey Mottet Klein and Corentin Fila) are teens from very different backgrounds who go to the same school… and are constantly fighting. Damien is the gawky son of a doctor and a military pilot stationed abroad. He can’t seem to stop staring at Thomas, the handsome bi-racial son of local farmers who reacts with hostility to Damien’s longing.

Damien’s mother Marianne (Sandrine Kiberlain) is treating Thomas’s ailing mother at the farm, a snowy two-hour ride outside of town. When she needs to be admitted to the hospital, Marianne quite naturally offers to take Thomas into their home for a temporary stay. Forced to live together under one roof, the two boys must work through their hostility, emerging attraction and complicated desires.

Co-written by Celine Sciamma, the award-winning filmmaker behind Tomboy, Petite Maman and Portrait of a Lady on Fire, Being 17 is a critically-acclaimed coming-of-age gem that accurately captures both youthful friction and attraction.

Watch the trailer for Being 17 below. The film is now available on Dekkoo.

Now Available: Dekkoo’s Seductive Shorts Collection

Dekkoo has a wealth of short films on offer from all around the globe – inventive and inspiring works of queer cinematic expression you won’t find anywhere else!

With such a vast library, it can be hard to know where to dive in. We’re sending you straight into the deep end with this collection of our most Seductive Shorts!

Youthful regrets, raunchy online encounters and the intersection between queerness and age are explored in the experimental shorts camchat and As I Sat in My Car. Sparks fly as men come together for a little romance in Rubber Dolphin, Foreign Lovers and Is This a Date. Steamy relationships from the past haunt the present in both Just Me and Let’s Meet Again at the End of the World.

Max follows a recent divorcee who hires a male escort. Open Relationship sees a couple considering exactly what the title suggests. Plum follows a fleeting encounter between two hot young men with opposing views on love. And finally His Hands and Fish Tank both explore strange hook-ups that have the potential to turn dangerous… or dangerously sexy.

Catch up on all the steamy action with our Seductive Shorts collection – available now on Dekkoo!

Short Film Spotlight: Nanoblood

From writer Nick Roth and director Lindsay Haun, Nanoblood is a short film that tosses comedy, neo-noir, horror and sci-fi all into the blender at once, telling the story of three young lovers and the bots that tear them apart.

Not for the squeamish (expect lots of blood and some thrillingly Cronenberg-influenced body horror), this 38-minute film follows Gary (Anthony Rutowicz), a painter recently out of a day job, and his wife Lisa (Amanda Fuller), a graduate student in nanobiology.

Lisa’s funding is contingent on her participation in an experimental trial to replace her blood cells with microscopic, artificially intelligent robots. When the pair decide to make some extra cash by renting Gary’s painting studio out to Toby (Gabriel Miller), a mysterious visiting scholar also participating in Lisa’s clinical trial, their bodies begin to change in unexpected ways… and sexual desire begins to emerge in unexpected places.

Ambitious, provocative, sexually-frank and surprisingly timely, Nanoblood tells a large, inventive sci-fi story on an intimate scale.

Watch the trailer for Nanoblood below. The full short film is available now on Dekkoo.

Short Film Spotlight: Our Way Back

An intense 26-minute thriller from Israeli director Moshe Rosenthal, Our Way Back follows two secret lovers who find themselves in a life-or-death situation.

Lior Ashkenazi stars as Uri, a 50-year-old family man in a secret romantic relationship with the much-younger Oded, played by Shachar Netz.

Telling his wife that he’s going away for a business conference, Uri whisks Oded away to the desert, where the two can express their love for one another freely, away from the prying eyes of their small, close-knit community.

When Oded suffers a serious accident, it puts not only their affair, but his very life in jeopardy. Now Uri is faced with a major decision. He can call for help and risk being exposed, or let go of the man he loves in the most heartless way possible.

Our Way Back is now available on Dekkoo.

A romantic weekend getaway turns sinister in the gay thriller Complete Strangers

Writer-director Pau Masó also stars in this new gay thriller Complete Strangers as Robert, a recovering alcoholic from Budapest who returns home to reconnect with some friends.

While there, he also happens to meet the enigmatic Hugo (Matthew Crawley), a tall blue-eyed stranger who quickly gains his trust by giving him the attention he craves most.

Their courtship moves unusually fast. Soon into their passionate relationship, Robert willingly accepts Hugo’s proposal of a weekend getaway – against the advice of his inner circle. What begins as an idyllic weekend takes a sinister turn when Hugo’s true intentions are revealed. Not everything is as it seems on the surface.

Sexy and suspenseful in equal measure, Complete Strangers is a stylish gay film that harkens back to the erotic thriller heyday of the late ’80s and early ’90s.

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