Category: International Film
Five filmmakers explore male sexuality and longing in the collection ‘Furious Desires’
The concept of desire is explored to the fullest in Furious Desires, a collection of five international short films exploring male sexuality and longing.
In Brazilian filmmaker Fabio Leal’s The Daytime Doorman, a man pushes past boundaries with someone who works in his apartment building. Also from Brazil, Ricky Mastro’s film Xavier and Miguel follows a teen who is ready to tell the world about the secret feelings he has for his best friend.
The Other Side, from Mexican director Rodrigo Alvarez Flores, chronicles the romance between two young men who will not let the border come between their love. Mexican filmmaker Denisse Quintero’s The Tiger’s Fight is centered around a homoerotic harvest ritual where village men are expected fight one another.
Finally, from Italian director Simone Bozzelli, Loris is Fine follows a naïve 20-year-old whose need for affection drives him to make some life-altering choices.
With all of the shorts combined together, this stylish and diverse collection runs a total of 91 minutes… and will surely leave you with some desires of your own.
Check out these select stills from each of the five featured short films below. Furious Desires is now streaming on Dekkoo.
Dekkoo Digest – 092
The clever short film ‘Beast’ tells an unusual, genre-twisting story of forbidden gay love
A 24-minute short film from Swedish writer-director Valentina Chamorro Westergårdh, Beast begins as a romantic drama and turns into something else entirely.
The film follows Vincent (Andreas La Chenardière), a reclusive young man who lives in a remote lakeside town that only attracts visitors during the warmer months. When he attends a bonfire and meets the strikingly handsome Gustav (Robert Noack), an instant attraction is sparked.
Gustav visits Vincent again later on, hoping to bring his seemingly shy newfound acquaintance out of his shell and act on their clear desire for one another.
Attracted to Gustav, Vincent soon gives in to temptation, and the two men begin a passionate affair. But Vincent has a good reason for keeping most people at a distance – and his secret may just destroy Gustav and their burgeoning romance if the pair aren’t careful.
Clever and beautifully constructed, Beast straddles two specific genres to tell an unusual tale of forbidden gay love.
Watch the trailer for Beast below. The film is now available on Dekkoo.
Short Film Spotlight: I Get So Sad Sometimes
The debut short film from Filipino writer-director Trishtan Perez, I Get So Sad Sometimes is a sexually-charged drama about the isolation of youth.
Starring newcomers JC Santiago, Karl Louie Caminade and Russ Ligtas, the film follows a lonely high school boy who, unbeknownst to his family, is secretly spending a lot of time on the internet chatting with a mature man whose face he hasn’t seen.
Cleverly shot in a claustrophobic aspect ratio to capture the lead character’s sense of being boxed in, this provocative film offers up a keen observation of this modern generation’s ethos – expressed through an intimate and contemporary visual language focusing on the immediacy of online interaction and instant gratification.
One could also read the film as a stern warning of the dangers of the internet and social media as a surrogate to real life bonds.
Check out the poster for I Get So Sad Sometimes below. The full 20-minute short film is now streaming on Dekkoo.
Short Film Spotlight: The Station In-Between
Swiss actors Peter Fischli and Carlos Leal star in the tender and visually lush short film The Station In-Between as Theo and Louis, two gay men with little in common who are compelled to go on an emotional journey together.
Louis’s husband, who was also Theo’s best friend, was recently killed during a homophobic attack. The pair are traveling by train to Paxmal, a spiritual peace monument in the Swiss Alps, to scatter their beloved friend and partner’s ashes.
Along the way, almost as if by fate, they meet a variety of memorable characters. Some confront them with traumas of the past, while others remind them of the good things in life and the beauty that surrounds them even in the darkest of times.
Gorgeously crafted by director Sven Schnyder, this touching and compassionate 19-minute short film is an ode to unexpected friendships, as well as life, death and everything in between.
Check out the poster for The Station In-Between below. The film is now available on Dekkoo.
Dekkoo Digest – 088
Warm up your winter with François Ozon’s new queer classic ‘Summer of 85’
Two teenage boys meet on the coast of Normandy and experience a life-changing summer in this sexy and gorgeously-crafted ode to youth from François Ozon, the celebrated French auteur behind ‘Swimming Pool,’ ‘8 Women,’ ‘Double Lover’ and many more.
Set in 1985, the film is told from the romantic, nostalgia-shaded perspective of 16-year-old Alexis (Félix Lefebvre). Unsure whether to pursue his literary aspirations in school or get a job to appease his blue-collar dad, Alexis is at a crossroads – and desperate for affection.
When he meets David (Benjamin Voisin), a dashing stranger who rescues him at sea, his potentially dull summer is upended. He’s quickly thrust into the alluring and enigmatic world of his new friend. Soon, the boys’ flirtatious friendship blossoms into something much more, yet David’s charismatic demeanor belies a mercurial, tempestuous side that threatens to blight their idyllic summer fling.
Ozon inventively blends breezy teen romance with a looming mystery while cutting back and forth between past and present so that the pieces of the puzzle don’t fall into place until the film’s unforgettable, emotionally devastating climax.
Summer of 85 is an electric ode to youth, self-discovery, and the possibilities that lay in front of us all.
Watch the trailer for Summer of 85 below. The film is now streaming on Dekkoo.
Short Film Spotlight: Angelos at Christmas
Greek writer-director Fotis Zampetakis proves that Christmas movies come in all shapes, sizes and genres with the 18-minute nail-biter Angelos at Christmas.
While his friends are at his house preparing for a party on Christmas Eve, Angelos is in the streets of Athens doing some last-minute shopping. When a group of children enter a bookstore to sing carols, Angelos becomes intrigued by one of them.
He attempts to convince the little boy to go with him in his car. Seemingly looking to escape from his own dark reality and intrigued by the promise of 50 euros, the boy decides to follow the stranger. As the sun sets and the boy falls asleep, Angelos drives them through the woods, heading toward a mysterious destination.
Without giving too much away, not all is at it seems in this stylishly-shot short film. Employing a John Carpenter-like piano score, Zampetakis skillfully ratchets up the horror movie tension, leading to a climax that packs an emotional wallop, but probably not the one you’ve been primed to expect.
Watch a short trailer for Angelos at Christmas below. The full short film is now available on Dekkoo.
Visionary filmmaker Julián Hernández is back with the sexually-charged ‘The Trace of Your Lips’
Set in Mexico during the height of the pandemic, The Trace of Your Lips follows Román, a B-movie actor who finds himself isolated in his apartment with the entire world on edge. His neighbor Aldo, an indigenous young man, is an essential worker who is allowed by the authorities to come and go as needed.
Though they live across from each other in an apartment complex, the two men first get to know one another online. While they start to talk and see one another in video calls, they can’t meet in person. Eventually, however, the temptation to break out of their lockdown conditions proves too much to bear.
Suspenseful and surreal in all the best ways, The Trace of Your Lips is the newest feature from visionary filmmaker Julián Hernández, the acclaimed director behind I Am Happiness on Earth, A Thousand Clouds of Peace and Raging Sun, Raging Sky.
Featuring captivating lead performances, the film simmers with sexual tension – and explosive release – while portraying a very real moment in recent history that plays out almost like a dystopian sci-fi film.
Watch the trailer for The Trace of Your Lips below. The film is now streaming on Dekkoo.
