Gay Rights – Page 12 – Discover great gay stories.

Pride Month Spotlight: In the Family

In the Family takes place in the small town of Martin, Tennessee, where Chip Hines (Sebastian Brodziak), a precocious six year old, has only known life with his two dads, Cody and Joey (Trevor St. John and writer/director Patrick Wang).

When Cody dies suddenly in a car accident, Joey and Chip struggle to find their footing again. Just as they begin to, Cody’s will reveals that he named his sister as Chip’s guardian. The years of Joey’s acceptance into the family unravel as Chip is taken away from him. In his now solitary home life, Joey searches for a solution. The law is not on his side, but friends are. Armed with their comfort and inspired by memories of Cody, Joey finds a path to peace with the family and closer to his son.

Wildly acclaimed by critics and in-the-know audiences for his work on this film – as well as the recent duology A Bread Factory, Part One and A Bread Factory, Part Two – writer/director Patrick Wang is one of the most thoughtful, talented and ambitious indie filmmakers most people aren’t familiar with yet.

The late, great Roger Ebert said of In the Family, “I was completely absorbed from beginning to end. What a courageous first feature this is, a film that sidesteps shopworn stereotypes and tells a quiet, firm, deeply humanist story about doing the right thing. It is a film that avoids any message or statement and simply shows us, with infinite sympathy, how the life of a completely original character can help us lead our own.”

One of our Pride Month Selections, In the Family is now available to stream on Dekkoo. Watch the trailer below.

New This Week – 5/31/19

Tim, a shy 16 years old athlete, is both brilliant and talented. But the pressure he undergoes pushes him to the edge, where human limits reach the point of no return. ‘1:54’ is available now on Dekkoo!

Erik’s boyfriend Marely left him. Now, the last chance for Erik to get him back is to make this movie to explain, that the only reason he sold sex was so they could afford to become parents one day. Stream the gay short ‘We Could Be Parents’ now on Dekkoo!

Visibility for the LGBT movement in Argentina wouldn’t have been the same without him. This is the life story of Carlos Jauregui, the most recongnized LGBT activist from the 80s and 90s in Argentina. ‘Carlos Jauregui: The Unforgettable Fag’ is now available on Dekkoo.

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Coming next week: The case that shook a state and changed the nation.

Eyes Wide Open is an extraordinary portrait of forbidden love

Powerfully moving and quietly humane, Eyes Wide Open, Haim Tabakman’s, debut feature is an extraordinary portrait of forbidden love in an ultra-Orthodox Jerusalem community.

Aaron (Zohar Strauss) leads a quiet life. Each day he heads from his tidy apartment where he lives with his four children and his wife Rivka (played by an actress with the unlikely name of Tinkerbell) to his butcher-shop to his synagogue to pray.

Aaron is a tzaddik, a righteous man, and when Ezri (Ran Danker), a beautiful twenty-something man arrives at his shop in a rainstorm looking for shelter, he gives it. But something more happens as sexual desire develops between the two men. Ezri wants to kiss Aaron, but Aaron tells Ezri that it’s a challenge for them to pray about. Ezri takes Aaron to a spring outside the city, and desire bubbles to the surface between the two men.

As their gay love is consummated, the love between Aaron and Rivka becomes troubled. And a self-appointed “God-squad” of Jewish thugs warns Aaron that Ezri is a they don’t want in their neighborhood.

Beautifully insightful and almost delicate in its storytelling, Eyes Wide Open, is a stunningly essential film in the cannon of queer filmmaking. With not an extra word, frame or movement, director Haim Tabakman and screenwriter Merav Doster craft a truly gorgeous and unforgettable film.

Eyes Wide Open is available now on Dekkoo.

We can’t recommend the gorgeous historical romance The Circle more highly

Part documentary, part narrative feature film, The Circle is a moving tribute to a life-long relationship that overcame intense obstacles and an insightful look at an important chapter in gay history.

Winner of the prestigious Teddy Award at the Berlin Film Festival, The Circle tells the true story of Ernst Ostertag and Röbi Rapp, a schoolteacher and a drag entertainer, who met through their participation in a social network of gay men that developed in Zurich in the 1940s and 1950s. The two began romantic relationship. Interviews with them and other survivors and experts on the era are interspersed with documentary film and photographs as well as a scripted dramatic enactment of the story.

Founded in the early ’40s, the network around the magazine ‘Der Kreis’ (‘The Circle’) was the only gay organisation to survive the Nazi regime. It blossomed during the post-war years into an internationally renowned underground club.

Legendary masked balls at the Theater am Neumarkt in Zurich provided visitors from all over Europe with a secret and safe space to act out their ‘otherness’ in a self-determined way. It is there that timid teacher Ostertag falls in love with drag star Rapp. Ernst searches for a way to fight for his gayness to be accepted as normal outside the boundaries of ‘The Circle’ network without losing his employment as a teacher. Röbi champions the joint fruition of their love.

Following a murder in the gay community, violent repression against gay people also endangers ‘The Circle’ network. Stefan Haupt’s riveting film uncovers the fascinating universe of one of the first gay liberation communities. Enriched by impressive conversational records with Ernst Ostertag and Röbi Rapp, the film depicts a decades-long love story – made taboo by society – and reveals the couple’s inspiring self-knowledge and courage.

Watch the trailer for The Circle below. It’s now available on Dekkoo.

New This Week – 5/17/19

Robin Williams, in on of his final roles, plays a devoted husband in a marriage of convenience who is forced to confront his secret life. Stream ‘Boulevard’ now on Dekkoo.com!

Javi, a young man from East Los Angeles, is being harassed by his homophobic neighbor. As tensions escalate, he must decide whether to confront his tormentor or turn the other cheek. ‘Pitbull’ is available now on Dekkoo!

A young teacher Ernst falls head over heels in love with the transvestite star Robi Rapp and finds himself torn between his bourgeois existence and his commitment to homosexuality. ‘The Circle’ is now streaming on Dekkoo!

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Coming next week: One woman, one man, a lot of weed, a little crying and absolutely NO sexual attraction whatsoever.

New This Week – 5/10/19

In 1969 police raided the Stonewall Inn, a gay bar in New York City’s Greenwich Village, leading to three nights of rioting by the city’s gay community. With this outpouring of courage and unity the Gay Liberation Movement had begun. June 2019 marks the 50th anniversary of these riots. In honor of that historical moment we present this emotionally potent documentary about how LGBTQ people became a vibrant and integral part of America’s family, and, indeed, the world community. Watch ‘After Stonewall’ now on Dekkoo!

Scott, a mild-mannered gay writer in Los Angeles, gets wrapped up into a world of bad boys and their crime-filled past after being adopted as their “Daddy Scott”, whether he likes it or not. ‘Bad Boy’ is streaming now on Dekkoo!

Kai and Tobi share one last night together, remembering a beautiful weekend they once had away from the oppression of Tobi’s homophobic mother – before the light of the world has been put out in this beautiful, romantic and heartbreaking end times drama. Stream ‘1 Last Chance at Paradise’ now on Dekkoo!

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Coming next week: Robin Williams stars in one of his final performances.

A bold and harrowing gay classic comes to Dekkoo

Adapted by playwright Martin Sherman from his groundbreaking play of the same name, Bent employs an impressive cast of familiar faces to tell a painful personal story about the persecution of homosexuals in Nazi Germany.

In 1930s Berlin, Max (Clive Owen) sleeps with German SA officer Wolf (future “Game of Thrones” star Nikolaj Coster-Waldau), only to see him killed by his fellow Nazis the next morning as part of the “Night of the Long Knives.”

Refusing an offer of new papers from his Uncle Freddie (Ian McKellen) for fear of leaving his boyfriend Rudy (Brian Webber) behind, Max and Rudy are found by the Gestapo, to whom Max lies about his homosexuality and his relationship. He is soon sent to Dachau, where he meets and falls in love with Horst (Lothaire Bluteau), who shows him the dignity that lies in acknowledging one’s beliefs, even in the face of incomprehensible persecution.

Originally staged as a Royal Court production in 1979, starring Ian McKellen and Tom Bell, which later transferred to the West End, Bent earned major acclaim right out of the gate. Richard Gere played Max in the original 1980 Broadway production. In 1989, Sean Mathias, the film’s director, helmed a revival of the play, performed as a one-night benefit for Stonewall, featuring Ian McKellen, Richard E Grant, Ian Charleson and Ralph Fiennes. After receiving critical acclaim, Mathias directed a full, award-winning run in 1990 – priming him to head up the film adaptation to come.

Also co-starring Mick Jagger, Jude Law, Rupert Graves, Paul Bettany, Sadie Frost and Rachel Weisz, Bent is an unparalleled gay classic that deserves to be seen. Released in 1997, the film has long been unavailable… until now. Bent is currently streaming on Dekkoo.

Sh*t gets radical in Queercore: How to Punk a Revolution

Started in the 1980s as a fabricated movement intended to ‘punk’ the punk scene, ‘Queercore’ quickly became a real-life cultural community of LGBTQ music and movie-making revolutionaries.

From the start of the pseudo-movement to the widespread rise of pop artists who used queer identity to push back against gay assimilation and homophobic punk culture, the poignant new documentary Queercore: How to Punk a Revolution is just that: a how-to-do-it guide for the next generation of queer radicals.

Directed by Yony Leyser, this doc features an impressively extensive participant list Included are Bruce LaBruce, G.B. Jones, Genesis Breyer P-Orridge, John Waters, Justin Vivian Bond, Lynn Breedlove, Silas Howard, Pansy Division, Penny Arcade, Kathleen Hanna, Kim Gordon, Deke Elash, Tom Jennings, Team Dresch, and many, many more.

Watch the trailer for Queercore: How to Punk a Revolution below. The film is now available on Dekkoo.

New This Week – 3/15/19

Two men fall in love behind the walls of a concentration camp in this powerful drama. Clive Owen, Lothaire Bluteau, Mick Jagger, Jude Law, Ian McKellen, Paul Bettany, Rachel Weisz and Nikolaj Coster-Waldau star in this emotional adaptation of the award-winning stage play by Martin Sherman. ‘Bent’ is available to stream now on Dekkoo!

Liam, a young man wracked with confusion after an incident guides him on a mission of self-discovery, faces choices that risk changing his life forever. Stream the gay short film ‘Crossroad’ now!

This poignant documentary focuses on the cultural and social movement known as “Queercore”, an offshoot of punk that was distinguished by its discontent with society’s disapproval of the gay, bisexual, lesbian and transgender communities. ‘Queercore: How to Punk a Revolution’ is now playing on Dekkoo!

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Coming next week: A brand new gay movie and gay series available exclusively on Dekkoo!

Censored Dreams takes an insightful look at filmmaking in the Philippines

Get an in-depth look into the independent film scene in the Philippines with this sexy and thought-provoking feature from director Joselito Altarejos.

Censored Dreams takes us through the process of making a gay-themed feature film by following the lives of an aspiring actor named Samuel (played by Arjay Carreon) and a struggling filmmaker named Wilfredo (Richard Quan).

Samuel has hung all of his hopes and dreams on becoming an actor. He’s hoping Wilfredo, who has also staked his livelihood on finishing their film, can help make his dreams a reality. Their hopes, unfortunately, are dashed when the Board of Censors assigns their new project an X-rating, which means it will be banned from being shown publicly. Their path toward fame and fortune is suddenly littered with even more obstacles.

Censored Dreams is available now on Dekkoo.