Category: International Film

Short Film Spotlight: For the Time Being

A steamy 35-minute short film from European director Daniela Lucato, For the Time Being stars Crisjan Zollner as Roman, a middle-aged man who has recently split from his wife and finds himself living alone for the first time in a long time.

When he decides to sublet one of his rooms to Mel, a younger and strikingly attractive French immigrant played by Pascal Houdus, everything he thought he knew about his life and his sexuality begins to unravel.

Suddenly, Roman is left wondering who he is and what he would like to change in his life.

Letting the sexual tension simmer, For the Time Being is a thoughtful and stylishly-crafted adult relationship drama.

Watch a short trailer for For the Time Being below. The full short film is now streaming on Dekkoo.

Not all is as it seems (or as it’s remembered) in the new French romance ‘Rosodium’

Suffering from severe panic attacks, introverted young engineer Noah (Thibaut Cattelin) has been looking for a way to re-live only his happiest moments. He’s been working on a complicated neurological experiment – a project which connects memory storage and immersive reality, allowing you to experience your best moments over and over again.

During an eventful road trip with his two best friends, he meets Lohan (Jules Bahloul), a bad-boy tattoo artist, and invites him along for the final week of their journey.

An attraction quickly develops between the two young men. Along the way, they experience all the exhilarating moments of first love. As their bond grows stronger, Lohan’s “live for the moment” attitude challenges Noah’s control, teaching him that in order to create happy memories, you need to take risks, make yourself vulnerable and be willing to experience some painful moments as well.

From French director Theodore Tomasz, Rosodium is a tender romance that plays with time and structure in unexpected ways.

Watch the trailer for Rosodium below. The film is now streaming on Dekkoo along with a 20-minute “making-of” documentary.

Acclaimed director Rodrigo Bellott returns with the phantasmagorical horror film ‘Blood-Red Ox’

Two lovers find themselves descending into a mysterious form of madness in the eerie new psychological thriller Blood-Red Ox.

Boyfriends Amir and Amat (played by Mazin Akar and Kaolin Bass) are invited on a trip into the South American rain forest, but their initially pleasant visit to Bolivia quickly takes a bizarre turn.

Amat starts having strange visions and loses his mind over the ghostly presence of a giant red ox. Amir finds that he must save his boyfriend from this dangerous paranoia, but he quickly realizes that he can’t trust anything or anyone around them – as he might be losing his mind too.

From Rodrigo Bellott, the writer-director behind the critically-acclaimed 2020 drama Tu Me Manques, Blood-Red Ox is a visionary, phantasmagorical gay horror film that aims to make your head spin.

Watch the trailer for Blood-Red Ox below. The film is now streaming on Dekkoo.

Short Film Spotlight: I Should Feed My Cat

A contemplative and sexually-frank short film from director Abram Cerda, I Should Feed My Cat opens on a rainy day in Belgium and follows Stefan, a Chilean man living in Brussels who is searching for a connection, but carries an intense fear of intimacy that may end up leading him astray.

Arriving at the apartment of an older man he met on Grindr, he’s dismayed to find hard drug paraphernalia. Later, when he encounters an old friend from back home, we find a glimmer of hope – but the walls that Stefan has built up around himself may be too strong to break through.

Featuring a quietly heartbreaking performance from lead actor Andres Cifuentes, I Should Feed My Cat perfectly captures the menancholy and isolation of being alone in a large foreign city.

Watch a mysterious short clip/trailer for the film below. I Should Feed My Cat is now streaming on Dekkoo.

Two young men share a fleeting connection in the gay romance ‘Boy Meets Boy’

Harry (Matthew J. Morrison) has been partying for two days when he meets Johannes (Alexis Koutsoulis) on the dance floor of a club in Berlin.

With only fifteen hours left until Harry’s flight back to London, Johannes offers to help him print his boarding pass. This mundane task leads to a day together, wandering the city.

The contrasts in their lives and values force them to confront their own truths and be completely honest – leading to a strong, romantic connection that is under an unusual time crunch.

Winner of the Grand Prize at the Rhode Island International Film Festival, director Dani Sanchez-Lopez’s Boy Meets Boy is about a brief encounter and a fleeting moment of happiness and possible love.

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

Director Eloy de la Iglesia’s controversial classic ‘Hidden Pleasures’ is now available in a new restoration

Highly controversial at the time of its release in 1977, Hidden Pleasures is one of the first films in the history of Spanish cinema to prominently feature gay characters and themes.

Directed by acclaimed underground filmmaker Eloy de la Iglesia, the film stars Simon Andreu as Eduardo, a wealthy, but lonely and deeply closeted bank manager in his forties.

Though he’s secretive about his sex life, Eduardo uses his social and economic position to win over young men. In one of his regular cruising sessions, he meets and falls head over heels for Miguel, an attractive young straight guy played by Tony Fuentes.

As Eduardo’s infatuation with the young man grows deeper, it sets up a complicated love triangle between the pair and Miguel’s girlfriend Carmen (Beatriz Rossat) – not to mention Rosa (Charo López), the older married neighbor with whom Miguel is having an affair.

Though it’s clearly a product of the 1970s, Hidden Pleasures was truly radical at the time of its release. Though it was initially banned be Spanish censors, it was championed by film critics who opposed the ongoing censorship in the years after Francisco Franco’s death.

The film’s premiere was met with massive street demonstrations by gay activists who came out in support of Eloy de la Iglesia’s bold new vision.

Watch a short clip from Hidden Pleasures below. The full, newly-restored film is now available on Dekkoo.