Category: Interview

‘This is Ballroom’ takes a backstage look at the Brazilian drag and queer performance scene

Conceived in New York during the 1960s, when two Black queens left the white-dominated pageant contests behind to create their own scene, ballroom culture has long been a space of freedom, expression, and transgression.

Some fifty years later, the ballroom scene in Brazil is thriving, with houses across the country teaching the art of shade.

Directed by queer Brazilian artists Juru and Vitã, This Is Ballroom stages a real-life ball in a city warehouse. Riotously soundtracked, the film only pauses for breath to illuminate the lives of its trans-led cast. Away from the glitz of the dance floor, these interviews reveal simmering racial and gender tensions.

Capturing the spirit of a new, emerging generation, This Is Ballroom celebrates this energetic subculture as a bounteous and transformative space for queer people of color.

Watch the trailer for This is Ballroom below. The documentary is now streaming on Dekkoo.

‘Studio One Forever’ takes a deep dive into a unique time and place in queer history

From 1974 to 1993, Studio One and its adjoining live music venue, The Backlot, became symbols of hope and community for gay men during tumultuous times.

Amidst the rise of gay rights, disco’s heyday and the devastating AIDS crisis, the club offered sanctuary from rampant homophobia and police oppression. Studio One was where legends like Chita Rivera and Eartha Kitt performed, and rising stars like Roseanne Barr and Rosie O’Donnell ignited their careers.

Through personal accounts, the new documentary Studio One Forever delves into the nightclub’s history, examining how the backdrop of a progressing gay liberation clashed with 1980s conservatism and the escalating AIDS nightmare.

A testament to an important era, this unique and insightful new doc from director Marc Saltarelli immortalizes the club’s legacy for future generations.

Watch the trailer for Studio One Forever below. The documentary is now streaming on Dekkoo.

Short Film Spotlight: Skin to Skin

Frenetically paced and packed with gorgeous visuals, the deceptively titled short film Skin to Skin goes way beneath the surface, examining the unexpected emotional depth that can reveal itself during casual hook-ups.

Based on a conversation with an anonymous individual, credited only as ‘O’, the film uses actors to recreate the intimate moments that can occur just after sex between strangers concludes.

An unseen narrator shares a few stories about encounters with people whose post-coital conversation surprised him. Among them are a man grieving the recent loss of his father, a Brazilian immigrant looking for a new place to call home and a young woman learning to own and appreciate the literal scars of her past.

A subversively moving piece of work, Skin to Skin examines the no-strings-attached, faceless profiles of Grindr in an honest, destigmatized way and shows how casual hook-ups can sometimes lead to unexpectedly poignant connections – and also how, in some situations, it’s easier to reveal your innermost self to a total stranger.

Watch the trailer for Skin to Skin below. The short film is now streaming on Dekkoo.

‘Queendom’ follows a talented queer artist who literally risks her life on the streets of Moscow

Both inspiring and nail-biting, the new documentary Queendom shines a much-deserved spotlight on Gena Marvin, a young queer artist from a small town in Russia who dazzles in the otherworldly costumes she crafts from tape and found materials.

As Putin’s government increasingly encroaches on the rights of LGBTQ+ communities, Gena takes to the streets of Moscow, staging provocative performances that challenge the status quo.

All she wants to do change people’s perception of beauty and queerness and bring attention to the harassment of the LGBTQ+ community. But her artistic activism comes at a price as political tensions in Russia escalate, jeopardizing her own personal freedom.

An Oscar-shortlisted doc from director Agniia Galdanova, Queendom is not so much a portrait as it is a direct cinematic extension of Gena’s inner universe, delving into her extravagant subconscious creations and her search for free expression while illustrating how unleashing one’s inner world can create ripples of positive change.

Watch the trailer for Queendom below. The documentary is now streaming on Dekkoo.

‘Seed Money’ looks into the life of legendary gay porn producer and philanthropist Chuck Holmes

As the head of Falcon Studios, Chuck Holmes became one of the most influential gay figures of the 20th century, his work viewed by millions of men at a time when most cinematic representations of gay life were either blatantly homophobic or strictly relegated the art house.

Starting in the early 1970s, Chuck revolutionized the newly legal gay porn industry, assertive in his belief gay men deserved positive representations – and that quality gay films would help them change their sense of self.

He fought legal battles and personal demons, surfacing in the late ’80s as a major contributor to the growing gay rights movement — only to find that the community he helped create now thought of him as a liability.

Through extensive use of film footage, archival material and interviews with Chuck’s friends, lovers, activists and fellow adult filmmakers, the groundbreaking feature-length documentary Seed Money follows the sensational story of Chuck’s incredible rise, his cultural and philanthropic contributions to gay culture and his struggle to achieve respect – even in death.

Watch the trailer for Seed Money below. The documentary is now streaming on Dekkoo.

‘To Decadence with Love, Thanks for Everything’ takes viewers on an intimate trip through Southern Decadence

The action-packed documentary To Decadence with Love, Thanks for Everything follows the lives of drag queen extraordinaires Laveau Contraire and Franky Canga as they prepare for Southern Decadence, a weekend of queer celebration in New Orleans.

During this behind-the-scenes journey, we meet a rich community of Southern artists who proudly challenge social norms and the boundaries of self-expression.

Showcasing the diversity of New Orleans while teaching a poignant lesson about knowing your worth, this new film from director Stuart Sox provides a personal perspective from the performers as well as the producers, as Laveau strives to create more opportunities for BIPOC performance artists.

From drag queens to burlesque performers and everything in between, To Decadence with Love, Thanks for Everything is a lively portrait of a nearly 50-year tradition and the diversity community that pulls it together year after year.

Watch the trailer for To Decadence with Love, Thanks for Everything below. The documentary is now streaming on Dekkoo.

‘Queercore: How to Punk a Revolution’ examines the 1980s LGBTQ+ punk scene

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.

With this frank and fascinating feature-length documentary, director Yony Leyser (the filmmaker behind Chokehole, Desire Will Set You Free and William S. Burroughs: A Man Within) chronicles the start of the pseudo-movement through to the widespread rise of pop artists who used queer identity to push back against gay assimilation and homophobic punk culture.

Queercore: How to Punk a Revolution is just what the title suggests: a ‘how-to-do-it’ guide for the next generation of queer radicals. The extensive participant list includes 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 documentary is now streaming on Dekkoo.

Dekkoo In Depth: Get to know ‘Bad Together’ director Jono Mitchell and actor Andrés Erickson

In this installment of ‘Dekkoo In Depth,’ Ross sits down for a chat about the new Dekkoo-original series Bad Together with director Jono Mitchell and lead actor Andrés Erickson.

Bad Together follows the evolving ‘situationship’ between two gay men as they learn to accept and love both themselves and one another… as friends or whatever else.

Robbie (Erickson) is a sensitive young casting associate who is reeling after a recent break-up. When his best friend drags him to a party to cheer him up, he meets the charming and freewheeling Cameron (Queer Niro).

Over six time-jumping episodes, the show checks in with the pair at different moments throughout the years-long relationship that develops. Are these two just friends or are there deeper feeling that aren’t being expressed? And, more importantly, are they even a good match for one another?

Intelligently written, acted and directed, Bad Together examines modern queer relationships with a keen eye and a lot of heart.

Check out Ross’s conversation with Jono and Andrés below. A warning, though: this chat includes some spoilers for the first season. We strongly recommend watching the show first. All episodes of Bad Together are currently streaming on Dekkoo!

Dekkoo In Depth: Ross sits down with ‘Boy Culture: Generation X’ creator Q. Allan Brocka

An original series 15-plus years in the making, Boy Culture: Generation X is finally available, exclusively on Dekkoo!

To celebrate this delightful new follow-up to the 2006 hit, Ross sat down with writer, director and creator Q. Allan Brocka to discuss the new show and its long and complicated journey to the screen.

Boy Culture: Generation X reconnects with aging male escort – and narrator – X (Derek Magyar) as he finds himself up against a much younger generation of queer sex workers. As he struggles to keep his aging body fit and his unusual roster of kinky clients happy, he is also dealing with the realities of living with his ex-boyfriend Andrew (Darryl Stephens), who is aiming to move on from the former romantic entanglement.

Returning to the format of the novel on which the original Boy Culture was based, each episode of this sexy series centers around a particular client from which X learns – or specifically fails to learn – a lesson. Older, wiser and more incisive than ever, Boy Culture: Generation X has a lot to say about love, sex, relationships and aging gracefully in a culture that often values youthful good looks above all else.

You can watch Ross’s Dekkoo In Depth interview with Q. Allan Brocka below. The full first season of Boy Culture: Generation X is now streaming on Dekkoo.

Dekkoo in Depth: Ross sits down with ‘Danny Will Die Alone’ creator and star Jack Tracy

In the video below, Ross sits down for an in-depth interview with Jack Tracy, creator and star of the hilarious and refreshingly direct new Dekkoo-original comedy series Danny Will Die Alone.

Born out of Tracy’s own post-pandemic dating life, the proudly jaw-dropping series follows one single man through the hell-scape of gay courtship in New York City – where he screws his way through the apps in an increasingly desperate search for his one true love.

Recently single after a devastating breakup – and freshly entering a mid-life crisis – Danny finds the dating scene markedly different from the last time he was on the market. Emotional unavailability, fear of commitment and hyper-sexuality abound, all while Danny remains blissfully unaware of his own multitude of flaws.

In Season One, Danny’s attempts at finding romance begin with a failed attempt at converting a hung hookup to a possible partner and end with hiring a professional matchmaker when the apps stop doing their job. Along the way he meets hipsters, conservatives, spiritual beings, sex gurus, sexual novices and even enters his ‘top era’ due to an overabundance of seemingly unwanted bottoms.

Rude, crude and unabashedly judgmental, Danny Will Die Alone serves the relatability missing from modern dating while adding a healthy dose of ‘did he really just say that?’ comedy. In addition to the humor, the series takes a critical look at modern dating, dating app etiquette and shifting relationship styles.

You can watch Ross’s interview with Jack Tracy below. All episodes of Danny Will Die Alone are now streaming on Dekkoo!