Category: International Film

Don’t miss the gorgeous and enthralling road-movie romance ‘The Man with the Answers’

The Man with the Answers first introduces us to Victor (Vasilis Magouliotis), a hunky, twenty-something ex-diving champion now working in a furniture factory and living with his sick grandmother in a seaside town in Greece.

Distraught after her death, he decides to dust off her old car and travel to Germany to visit his estranged mother. On the ferry to Italy, he meets the dreamy Matthias (Anton Weil) – a talkative, inquisitive young German who is on his way home.

Matthias persuades Victor to take him along for the journey. As the pair drive north, Victor’s uptight, repressive personality clashes with the more free-spirited Matthias. But they soon find common emotional ground as their summer road trip takes unexpected – and increasingly romantic – turns.

When their journey finally comes to an end, they’re confronted with the question of whether either has found the answers he’s looking for… and whether or not they can be found in one another.

Featuring terrific performances from sexy lead actors Magouliotis and Weil, The Man with the Answers tells a tender story of self-discovery, family and burgeoning love in all its many forms.

Watch the trailer for The Man with the Answers below. The film is now available on Dekkoo.

Short Film Spotlight: The Word

A father and son (Karim Ashtari and Ali Ashrafiju) take to the road for a driving lesson. It’s a scenario that will be familiar to many, but in Iranian writer-director Hadi Khanmohammadi’s The Word, the roles are reversed.

In this intriguing 15-minute short, it’s the son who is teaching his aging father how to drive. But as this potential bonding moment plays out, an increasingly tense and difficult conversation ensues.

As the two men begin to air their grievances with one another, we get a strong sense of the abuse and patriarchal entitlement the son has had to endure. The father also wants to know why his son shies away from the topic of marriage… and spends so much time with his closest male ‘friend.’

Though it doesn’t offer any easy answers, The Word has a lot to say about traditional gender norms in Iran. It also adeptly captures the feeling of having to censor yourself in the presence of a closed-minded parent. Unfortunately, sometimes it really is impossible to teach an old dog new tricks.

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

Louis Hofmann stars in the swoon-worthy young adult romance ‘Center of My World’

After a three-week stint at a French-language camp, high-schooler Phil (Louis Hofmann) returns home to find that his mother (Sabine Timoteo) and twin sister (Ada Philine Stappenbeck) aren’t speaking to one another.

Not willing to confront his family during the last days of the summer holidays, Phil escapes to hang out with his best friend, Kat (Svenja Jung), eating ice cream and playing dress-up.

As the school year begins, a new student arrives – the handsome and mysterious Nicholas (Jannik Schumann). Smitten, Phil watches his crush as he runs around the track after school, and is thrilled when Nicholas returns his feelings. However, when first love’s volatility comes to light, Phil realizes he must deal with the problems of his past in order to deal with the issues of his present.

Based on author Andreas Steinhofel’s award-winning young adult novel and featuring a swoon-worthy lead performance from Louis Hofmann, a super-cute German actor who has made an international splash over the past few years in popular shows like Masters of the Air, Dark and All the Light We Cannot See, Center of My World is a gorgeously-crafted, sun-kissed ode to friendship, family bonds and first love.

Watch the trailer for Center of My World below. The film is now streaming on Dekkoo.

Two young men from different worlds come together in the tender new romance ‘Liuben’

Set in a Bulgarian mountain village, where prejudice simmers, Liuben follows a summer romance that develops between two young men from very different worlds.

Twenty-seven-year-old Victor (Dimitar Nokolov) has a nice life in Madrid with his partner, Jose (Ramón Esquinas). But after returning to his childhood home in Bulgaria for his grandfather’s funeral, he decides to stay for the summer.

While reconnecting with his father and their village’s way of life, he unexpectedly finds love in the form of Liuben (Bojidar Iankov Asenov), an eighteen-year-old Roma boy. Despite their differences, and the conflicts around them, Victor and Liuben find refuge in each other.

Liuben, which has its world premiere at Guadalajara International Film Festival last June, is a bit of a groundbreaker. Not only is it the first openly gay film from Bulgaria, but it casts Roma actors, who are usually absent from Bulgarian cinema, in the film’s lead roles.

A poetic romance from writer-director Venci Kostov, Liuben tells the heartfelt story of two lovers who are condemned to be strangers in their own land.

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

Short Film Spotlight: Sapphire

A trippy, visually inventive British drama from director Leanne Hanley and screenwriter Harry Hains, Sapphire tells the story of a troubled young poet who is caught between two identities.

Ethan (Andreja Pejic) struggles with an addiction to both love and drugs. When they meet an alluring man on the street, a relationship develops that sends them deeper into their worst tendencies.

The films flashes back and forth through time, observing different periods in Ethan’s life – the abyss of addiction, the thrill of first love, a moment of reflection and honesty in a therapist’s office and, finally, a fantasy world where they’re forced to make a choice.

Ethan looks to free himself from the abyss by becoming Sapphire, a glamorous alter ego. But whether or not this new identity will be enough to save them from their inner demons remains to be seen.

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

A sex worker gets into a tricky relationship with an older man in the Belgian drama ‘All Yours’

Prolific actor Nahuel P̩rez Biscayart (Glue, Persian Lessons, BPM) stars in All Yours as Lucas, a young and penniless Argentine escort who moves to a small Belgian town with the help of Henry (Jean-Michel Balthazar), a lonely Рand much older Рgay bakery owner who dreams of saving him from a life of prostitution.

Henry fell completely head over heels for Lucas when he first spotted him as a web cam model. He bought Lucas a plane ticket hoping that he would not only help out in the bakery, but share his bed.

With very different ideas about living together, the two men find their personalities and expectations clashing. Things get even more tense when the predominately straight Lucas starts falling for Audrey (Monia Chokri), a single mother who also works for Henry.

A complicated love triangle soon develops in this tender, award-winning character study from acclaimed writer-director David Lambert.

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

A mysterious drifter comes between two rich siblings in the stylish queer thriller ‘Palace of Fun’

After a chance meeting in a nightclub, a summer romance begins to develop between young lovers Lily and Finn (Phoebe Naughton and Andrew Mullan). Instantly smitten with one another and not looking to part ways too soon, Lily ends up inviting Finn to come stay with her at her parent’s opulent Sussex home.

As her folks are vacationing in Italy, the pair expect to have the estate all to themselves. Their alone time is broken, however, by the arrival of Lily’s mischievous brother Jamie (George Stocks).

When Jamie discovers a revealing secret about Finn on the internet, he uses it to blackmail the handsome young man into performing increasingly uncomfortable favors – playing a dangerous and sinister game with his sister’s new flame.

Paying knowing homage to Patricia Highsmith’s ‘Ripley’ novels, classic three-hander thrillers like Knife in the Water and even a little bit of Some Like it Hot, co-writer/director Eddie Stocks’ Palace of Fun is a smart and supremely tense sexually-charged thriller.

Watch the trailer for Palace of Fun below. The film is now streaming on Dekkoo.