Category: Gay Rights

Director Jared Watmuff’s award winning short film ‘Hey You’ packs a shocking and tragic punch

In April of 2017, over 100 different people were reportedly abducted, tortured and murdered by authorities in Chechnya as part of a heinous crackdown against the LGBTQ+ community. Some of these people were directly targeted and entrapped using dating apps. Ongoing prosecutions, mysterious disappearances and additional waves of attacks continued soon after.

Hey You, a shocking, but deeply important 4-minute short film from writer-director Jared Watmuff, explores this topic head-on.

At the start of Hey You, it seems that we’re watching an ordinary connection transpire between two men on Grindr. Soon enough, however, we realize that we’re seeing the experiences of two men from very different places – and how their simple pursuit of companionship plays out in wildly divergent ways.

A winner of numerous awards at film festivals around the globe, Hey You exposes how, with the convenience of social media and dating apps, our hard-fought rights and freedoms can be taken for granted – and how, for many others, the fight for those freedoms is far from over.

We do feel the need to warn you that the film contains scenes and imagery that most viewers will – and should – find deeply disturbing. This film does not shy away from the tragic reality of the situation.

Watch a short trailer for Hey You below. The full short film is now available on Dekkoo.

‘Supernatural’ is a heady sci-fi fantasia – an art film, political essay and erotic gay drama

One hundred years into the future, an unseen leader transforms Thailand into a strange new world where everything is orderly, citizens earn merit through good deeds and humans are forbidden from touching one another.

For the characters in Supernatural, nostalgia for the past, as well as the painful longing for some form of sexual intimacy, are starting to take their toll. Jumping backward in time, the past lives of three of these characters are revealed.

Packed with gorgeous imagery and sensual homoeroticism, Thai writer-director Thunska Pansittivorakul’s heady sci-fi fantasia amplifies the power of touch while telling an epic story with limited resources. Part experimental art film, part political essay and part erotic gay drama, the film tells individual stories that take place in both the past and the future while commenting on gay life in the present.

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

Oscar nominee Colman Domingo stars in the profoundly moving 30-minute drama ‘North Star’

Colman Domingo, Malcolm Gets, Laura Innes and Kevin Bacon make up the primary cast of this astounding 30-minute short film that challenges the meanings of freedom, faith and family.

A winner of countless awards at film festivals all around the globe, North Star is easily one of the most acclaimed gay short films ever made.

Domingo, who also produced the film, stars as James, a rural rancher who makes incredible sacrifices to care for his dying husband – all while his zealot sister-in-law attempts to impose her will and a pair of televangelists peddle shame, fear, and division as the cornerstones of faith.

A deeply personal film by writer-director P.J. Palmer, based on his own experiences of being in same-gender, multi-cultural relationships, North Star is a profoundly emotional drama that will linger with you love after the credits roll.

Watch a short teaser trailer for North Star below. The film is now streaming on Dekkoo.

A weekend of mischief becomes a battle for survival in the stylish British thriller ‘B&B’

A gay couple pays a price for exercising their rights in this award-winning thriller from writer-director Joe Ahearne.

Sean Teale and Tom Bateman star in B&B as partners Fred and Marc. A year before the main events of the film, they were denied a room at St. Jude bed and breakfast by its fundamentalist Christian owner Josh (Paul McGann). They took the matter to court, won a discrimination suit and have now returned.

Though Fred would happily take the victory and move on, Marc is excited to rub some salt in Josh’s wound – insisting on sleeping as a married couple in the home of a man who has made his resentment known.

Events take a deadly turn when another guest, with far more sinister intentions, arrives. Marc and Fred’s weekend of fun turns into a suspenseful battle for survival.

With plenty of twists and turns, this clever Hitchcock homage will keep you guessing to the bitter end.

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

A man attempts a turbulent journey out of the closet in the moving drama ‘El Houb (The Love)’

Having spent decades hiding his sexuality from his family, Moroccan-Dutch businessman Karim (Fahd Larhzaoui) decides to come clean after his father catches him in bed with a man.

Caught up in a panic over the thought of coming out to his traditional Muslim parents (Slimane Dazi and Lubna Azabal), he barricades himself in their closet… literally.

As he feverishly revisits his childhood memories, negotiates a budding romance with a new Ghanaian boyfriend (Emmanuel Boafo) and wages a long-delayed battle royale to uproot his family’s conservative attitudes, a series of darkly hilarious and unflinchingly frank conversations begin – and the family is finally forced to confront the truths that have so long been avoided.

Loosely based on the theater work and actual experiences of lead actor and co-screenwriter Fahd Larhzaoui, El Houb (The Love) cascades through time. Director Shariff Nasr manages to straddle a line between uproarious comedy and heartbreaking drama while examining family dynamics, cultural taboos and hard-won self-acceptance.

Watch the trailer for El Houb (The Love) below. The film is now available on Dekkoo.

A group of LGBTQ+ elders get their due in the touching documentary ‘The Coming Back Out Ball Movie’

Filmed in 2017, around the time of Australia’s divisive marriage equality vote, The Coming Back Out Ball Movie is an observational documentary that follows a group of LGBTQ+ elders. They have been invited to a ball in Melbourne to celebrate their gender and sexual identity.

Faced with the complexities of aging and isolation, these extraordinary people seize each day with determination and humor. In a world that is rapidly changing for LGBTQ communities, director Sue Thompson captures amazing and heartwarming moments – such as some of the cast experiencing acceptance and love for the very first time in their lives.

Watch the trailer for The Coming Back Out Ball Movie below. The film is now available on Dekkoo.