Category: International Film

Short Film Spotlight: Floating

In expertly-made new short film Floating, a Russian astronaut awakens alone on board a space station module after an unfortunate crash. Space debris has left the module severely damaged and any communication with the outside world appears to be severed.

As the astronaut tries to reconnect to the base, strange noises turn his attention to the outside. There are knocks coming from outside the ship. They get closer and closer until a strange character emerges. He’s come to welcome the astronaut with a pie.

Puzzled, scared and believing everything to be a hallucination, the astronaut tries to focus on his communication efforts… but the mysterious man decides to open the door and let himself in.

From director Frankie De Leonardis, Floating, also known as Flotando, shows what a skilled filmmaker can do on a limited budget. Ultimately telling an allegorical story about self-realization and acceptance, this clever sci-fi short packs a surreal comic punch.

Watch a short – and very tense – trailer for Floating below. The full short film is now available on Dekkoo.

Shall I Compare You to a Summer’s Day explores the sensual experiences of gay Egyptian men

In Shall I Compare You to a Summer’s Day?, a contemporary queer musical and pseudo-documentary from Egyptian director Mohammad Shawky Hassan, soft speaking voices and a dreamlike soundscape of Egyptian pop music combine to create an almost hallucinatory cinematic experience.

Based on a diary of the filmmaker’s personal love stories, and told in the form of tales from “One Thousand and One Nights,” Shall I Compare You to a Summer’s Day? gives us a glimpse into the sensual experiences of gay Egyptian men.

Telling their stories with humor, tenderness and wit, the power of prose commands attention and allows viewers to be completely swept up in Hassan’s unique vision.

With gorgeous colors, riveting stories, handsome actors and imaginative editing, Shall I Compare You To a Summer’s Day? is a truly unique gay fantasia.

Watch the trailer for Shall I Compare You to a Summer’s Day? below. The film is now available on Dekkoo.

What He Did is a chilling new true crime doc from Denmark

From Danish director Jonas Poher Rasmussen, What He Did is a chilling new true crime documentary about psychologist and author Jens Michael Schau.

Back in 1988, allegedly sparked by a fit of jealousy, Schau’s actions led to the death of Christian Kampmann, his boyfriend of thirteen years. At the time, Kampmann had been at the peak of a successful literary career. He had travelled to a small island, along with Schau, to write a continuation of a popular Danish television series. During their stay, something went terribly wrong. But what caused this mysterious death… and why?

Featuring intense and intimate new interviews with Schau, who has since served a full prison sentence for second-degree manslaughter, those questions are explored in What He Did. Schau digs deep, telling the story in his own words and recalling troublesome memories he had long ago tried to suppress – all while a local theater group begins staging a new production based on the shocking incident.

Watch the trailer for What He Did below. The film is available now on Dekkoo.

Short Film Spotlight: According to Mateo

Exploring a particularly dark side of desire, the new 20-minute short film According to Mateo offers up a moody exploration of the grey area between pleasure and pain.

Mateo and his boyfriend, Marc, arrive home after a night out with Luke, a guy they’ve just met. After an argument, Mateo leaves their apartment and bumps into a mysterious drug dealer named Jon. Mateo convinces Jon to take him to his house – where he discovers that he can’t feel anything that isn’t pain.

Edgy and sexually-explicit, the film was produced and co-directed by Osama Chami, a former production assistant who gained a wealth of movie-making experience working on the films of Pedro Almodovar.

According to Mateo marks Chami’s directorial debut, along with his filmmaking partner Enrique Gimeno Pedros. You can also find their follow-up short, Young Diego, on Dekkoo later this month.

Watch the trailer for According to Mateo below. The film is now available on Dekkoo.

Present Still Perfect follows up on a beloved Thai romance

In Present Perfect, his 2017 feature film debut, Thai director Aam Anusorn Soisa-Ngim drew from his own experiences to tell the story of Toey and Oat, a pair of young men who, despite the fact that they both have girlfriends, end up falling into a brief affair during a trip to a small Japanese town.

The film developed a dedicated fanbase in Japan, leading to a successful crowd-funding campaign for this new, highly anticipated sequel. Set four years after the events of the first film, Present Still Perfect reunites the two young lovers – this time on a tropical Thai island.

Oat is now a married man with a son, but Toey has never forgotten their brief romance and won’t give it up so easily.

Tender and heartfelt, the film offers an idealistic view of same-sex relationships in modern day Thailand.

You can catch up on the whole romantic saga right now at Dekkoo. Present Still Perfect is available now, along with the original film. Watch the trailer for Present Still Perfect below.

Short Film Spotlight: Wilma

Wilma tells the story of an unusual meeting between an estranged father and his precocious child.

Wilma is a young kid who goes to meet her dad for the very first time at the trailer park where he lives. What the dad doesn’t know, however, is that the son he once fathered now identifies as a girl and has changed her name.

A touching and funny 11-minute short film from Icelandic writer-director Haukur Bjorgvinsson, an accomplished artist who has worked mostly as a sound designer in commercials and music videos, Wilma earned massive acclaim at film festivals all around the world.

The film won the Special Jury Prize at the 2020 Flickerfest in Sydney, the Audience Award at the 2019 Luststeifen Film Festival and the Best Original Screenplay Award at the 2019 Face á Face Festival in France. It was also nominated for Best Short Film at the Icelandic Film and Television Awards. In fact, this short film has been so successful that Bjorgvinsson is currently working on a feature-length adaptation.

Wilma is available now on Dekkoo.