Category: Interview

An accomplished figure skater reveals his truth in the documentary ‘Go Figure: The Randy Gardner Story’

In Go Figure: The Randy Gardner Story, two-time Olympian and World Champion, the legendary Randy Gardner, explores his true identity through figure skating and his own one man show.

With his skating partner of over fifty years, Tai Babilonia, the pair experienced the heights of worldwide glory and devastating personal tragedy.

Now that the intense glare of the public spotlight has softened, he is free to finally reveal his untold magical and meaningful journey… both on and off the ice.

Go Figure: The Randy Gardner Story is a moving film filled with family secrets, closeted sexuality and the price that one gifted and wildly accomplished man paid to keep everything quiet.

Watch a short trailer for Go Figure: The Randy Gardner Story below. The film is now streaming on Dekkoo.

Dekkoo In Depth: Ross chats with Rex Glensy and Rufus Shaljean, the director and star of the new series ‘Patterns’

Telling a brand-new, self-contained story with each episode, Patterns is a brand-new British anthology series following numerous characters through various adventures as they search for love, sex and everything in between.

Ross sat down for a virtual interview with series director Rex Glensy and actor Rufus Shaljean – discussing the pandemic, the genesis of the show, the unusual format, the creation of the stories and how everything came together.

Watch the newest installment of Dekkoo In Depth below and make sure to catch Patterns on Dekkoo. All eight episodes are now streaming!

Dekkoo In Depth: Ross sits down with ‘Peckham Mix’ producer Cedric Andries to discuss the new original series

To celebrate the arrival of the new Dekkoo-original comedy series Peckham Mix, Ross sat down with London-based producer Cedric Andries to discuss the show and learn how it came to be.

George Turner stars in Peckham Mix as Josh, a gay man who finds his life in freefall after being dumped by his fiancé. Now he’s reluctantly looking for a new place to live. He finds a seemingly acceptable situation with Rex and Connor (Kane Surry and Janak Nirmal), a mysterious couple who are in search of a new roommate… after their last one was caught stealing cars.

As the new trio get to know one another, Josh becomes fascinated by his new roommates’ bizarre 1:00 AM excursions. Encouraged to live a little and enjoy the sweet taste of revenge, Josh joins them on one of their outings, hoping to change his life for the better. The night, however, proves far more exciting – and dangerous – than he ever could have imagined.

You can watch Ross’s interview with Cedric below. And get ready to catch up on all the criminal activity in this brand-new, four-episode Dekkoo-original series – launching June 15th!

Dekkoo In Depth: Ross interviews Historical Homos creators Donal Brophy and Emrhys Cooper

In this edition of Dekkoo In Depth, host Ross Weisman sits down to chat with Donal Brophy and Emrhys Cooper, two of the minds behind the brand-new Dekkoo-original podcast series Historical Homos.

From executive producer Zachary Quinto, Historical Homos is a proudly a no-fucks-given guide to LGBTQ+ history, introduces audiences to some of the gayest stories never told – including gay couples in Greek mythology, transgender spies of the Enlightenment, bisexual literary legends and much, much more!

The first episode of Historical Homos drops on June 9th with new episodes coming each week throughout the month of June. Learn all about the history of the show – and gay history in general – in the video below.

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.

Zachary Quinto narrates this challenging documentary about an unlikely 50-year friendship

Narrated by Zachary Quinto, the riveting new documentary Conversion takes a look at the history of gay conversion therapy and two men who bravely stood up against it.

The film tells the story of how these two unlikely friends — straight psychologist Gerald Davison and gay activist Charles Silverstein — changed the psychology world for the better after first crossing paths 50 years ago at a Behavioral Therapies Convention in New York City.

While Davison had been deeply involved in a practice dubbed “Playboy Therapy,” wherein he would attempt to teach gay men how to be straight, his first meeting with Silverstein proved eye-opening.

After what Davison dubs “an intellectual and emotional epiphany,” the men started speaking out against such practices, still quite common at the time, leading to an eventful moment when Davison presented his case at a national convention to over 1,000 peers.

This new film celebrates their courage and activism while also examining their moving 50-year friendship.

Watch the trailer for Conversion below. The film is available now on Dekkoo.

Now Available: Marionette Land

Robert Brock, the artistic director and founder of the Lancaster Marionette Theatre in Pennsylvania, lives above the space with his mother, Mary Lou.

Together the pair have been keeping this Lancaster treasure going for thirty years with unique takes on classic marionette shows for families (including Peter Pan, The Wizard of Oz and Aladdin) and cabaret-style grown-up shows which feature Brock performing as Liza Minnelli, Bette Midler and other divas.

Each puppet has not only been handcrafted by Brock himself, but also acts as a window into the personality that has passionately driven this fading form of entertainment.

Offbeat and endlessly endearing, the new documentary Marionette Land follows Brock and his mother as they go about their daily business… until COVID-19 threatens to drop the curtains for good. As the thirty year anniversary approaches and attendance dwindles, Robert begins to reflect upon his life dedicated to entertaining others while sacrificing his own personal needs. Though the stage gave him confidence to become and accept his true self, it also left him without a partner to share the spotlight with.

From director Alexander Monelli (the filmmaker behind the acclaimed doc At the Drive-In), Marionette Land intimately captures a deeply gifted artist as a personal and professional crossroad.

Watch the trailer for Marionette Land below. The film is now available on Dekkoo.

The essential documentary A Bigger Splash comes to Dekkoo

Released in 1974, A Bigger Splash offered up an intimate and innovative film about English-born, California-based artist David Hockney and his work while honoring its subject through creative cinematic risk-taking.

Director Jack Hazan created an improvisatory narrative-nonfiction hybrid featuring Hockney, a wary participant, as well as his circle of friends, capturing the agonized end of the lingering affair between Hockney and his muse, an American model named Peter Schlesinger.

Seen today, A Bigger Splash is at once a time capsule of hedonistic gay life in the 1970s, an honest-yet-tender depiction of gay male romance that dispenses with the then-current narratives of self-hatred and self-pity, an invaluable view of art history in action and a record of artistic creation that is itself a work of art.

Watch the trailer for A Bigger Splash below. A recently restored version of the film is now available on Dekkoo.

A fascinating fluid life is chronicled in the documentary Electroboy

Jimmy Cliff once sang “You can get it if you really want.” If this sentence applies to anyone, then it most definitely applies to model, snowboard pioneer, advertising whiz, author, party organizer and composer Florian Burkhardt, who managed to talk everyone around him out of their own goals and into achieving his own.

A documentary by Swiss filmmaker Marcel Gisler (Mario, Fogi is a Bastard), Electroboy tells the breathtaking true life story of a young man who leaves his claustrophobic Swiss surroundings for the wide world in search of fame and recognition.

In a series of success stories he reinvents himself time and again, changing settings and careers like other people change their shirts. Yet Florian’s life on the fast track turns into an escape from his own biography, which finally catches up with him at full force.

Watch the trailer for Electroboy below. The film is now available on Dekkoo.

Watch the award-winning documentary Memories of a Penitent Heart

Combining a wealth of recently discovered home movies, video and written documents with artfully shot contemporary interviews and vérité footage, Memories of a Penitent Heart is a documentary that cracks open a Pandora’s box of unresolved family drama.

The intimate lens of the film refracts on a wider cultural context: the AIDS crisis of the 1980s and 1990s, and in particular, how families treat their LGBTQ members in a Latin American cultural and religious context.

A story about the mistakes of the past and the second chances of the present, Memories of a Penitent Heart is a cautionary tale about the unresolved conflicts wrought by AIDS and a nuanced exploration of how faith is used and abused in times of crisis.

Watch the trailer for the film below. It’s now available on Dekkoo.