Category: New Release

In ‘Drifter,’ a young gay man reinvents himself in the hedonistic party capital of Europe

Dreaming of a life of urban gay bliss, a 22-year-old moves to Berlin to be with his more cosmopolitan photographer boyfriend, but finds his life completely upended when he’s dumped shortly after arriving.

Drifter stars Lorenz Hochhuth as Moritz, the 22-year-old in question. Alone in a new city where he doesn’t know anyone – and with little more than a clarinet to his name – Moritz is pushed to reimagine his life as a single gay man in the hedonistic party capital of Europe.

Trading his small town appearance for a more gender-fluid/classic punk aesthetic, Moritz dives into the city’s vibrating techno world and learns to express his repressed desires, but he also starts to lose himself in drugs and emotional alienation.

With the help of his queer friends, he soon develops his own ideas of sexuality and masculinity, leading him a little closer to finding himself.

From first-time feature director Hannes Hirsch, Drifter is a riveting film that looks beneath the seductive surface of a hedonistic culture, revealing the actual people who live and thrive within.

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

‘The Schoolmaster Games’ is a wildly original and deeply homoerotic high school melodrama

Based on a novel by Swedish author Kristofer Folkhammar and inspired by both American high school movies and gay porn, the unusual genre hybrid The Schoolmaster Games brings to life a vibrant alternate reality where sexuality is freely expressed, but manipulative power games are always at play just beneath the surface.

Desires are running wild at Saint Sebastian, a high school populated entirely by gay men. At this school, everyone is completely free to express their sexuality however they choose.

At the start of the year, much-desired heartthrob Charles (Christian Arnold) enters into a secret sexual power game orchestrated by the strict schoolmaster (Johan Ehn) – who is tortured by memories of his own repression during a time before the erotic acceptance that currently prevails at the school.

When the competition for the prestigious “Winter Procession” tightens, friendships crack and their whole utopian existence begins to fall apart piece by piece.

From Swedish director Ylva Forner, The Schoolmaster Games is a colorful, original and thrillingly homoerotic high school melodrama like no film ever before.

Watch the trailer for The Schoolmaster Games below. The film is now streaming on Dekkoo.

Visionary director João Pedro Rodrigues returns with the stylish genre-hybrid ‘Will-O’-the-Wisp’

From visionary queer auteur João Pedro Rodrigues, the acclaimed Portuguese director behind the The Ornothologist and the provocative gay classic O Fantasma, comes a bold and wildly unpredictable new musical fantasia.

Beginning in the year 2069, Will-O’-the-Wisp follows Portugal’s fictional King Alfredo, who, on his deathbed, starts to recall the social activism and erotic exploits of his youth in the early years of the 21st century.

As a fresh-faced, curly-haired young prince played by Mauro Costa, Alfredo shocked his riotously wealthy royal family by deciding to become a volunteer firefighter –in part to serve his community, but also as an excuse to be surrounded by a bevy of hot, beefy fellow firemen.

When he meets Alfonso (André Cabral), an alluring young instructor, new possibilities open and the pair become deeply immersed in their desire for one another.

This sexually-frank new film – a heady mix of historical tableau, musical comedy, queer romance and post-colonial provocation – maintains a joyous energy while examining heavy themes. Rodrigues manages to confront the inherited ills of our modern day while also indulging in delightfully bawdy humor and plenty of song-and-dance flights of fancy.

Watch the trailer for Will-O’-the-Wisp below. The film is now streaming on Dekkoo.

Ten men deliver ten different ‘Confessions’ in this intimate, genre-hopping anthology film

What secrets are to be found beneath the surface of the average gay man? Taking a peak behind numerous curtains, writer-director Mark Bessenger’s Confessions, aims to answer that very question.

An anthology film, featuring ten different disclosures from ten different men, Confessions goes deep inside the recesses of the gay male psyche.

We meet a young man who has to find the bravery to tell his parents that he’s a puppet, despite the fact they think that puppets are disgusting and abnormal. We meet another man who slowly undresses while revealing that he may have kidnapped someone and is holding him hostage in his basement.

In another segment, a hot young guy talks about what he’s really looking for as he lies in the arms of another man. And in perhaps the most interesting of all the vignettes, a man slowly shaves off his beard, changing his appearance and finding a new persona that allows him to explore the fact that, despite being with a woman, he has strong desires for men.

Spanning themes that are dark, sexy, intense, funny, romantic and shocking, Confessions turns a spotlight on characters you don’t often get to see – but will not want to turn away from.

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

Short Film Spotlight: Angelo

Twenty-something Angelo (Eduard Galiá) is suffering from a severe case of heartbreak after his longtime girlfriend leaves him for another man. Now he’s forced to find a new version of his life without her in an unfamiliar city.

Just when he thinks all hope is gone, he meets up with Marco (Sergio Pérez), an old school friend. When the two end up in bed together and a cautious, but passionate sexual encounter begins, it reawakens Angelo’s spirit and gets him to start questioning everything he thought he knew about himself.

Shot over only four days with a mix of both digital film and 16mm, this lovingly-crafted 27-minute short is both uplifting and incredibly sexy.

Writer-director Collen Demerez set out to make a film about the parts of discovering your sexuality that can be very healing, instead of destructive like we’ve seen a million times in movies before.

Watch a teaser trailer for Angelo below. The full short film is now streaming on Dekkoo.

Get ready to go ‘Deep in Vogue’ with this documentary about the Manchester ICONS Ball

Over the course of one year, British documentary filmmakers Dennis Keighron-Foster and Amy Watson developed relationships with the house mothers and members of the local Manchester drag community – charting the buildup to the wild and wonderful ‘Manchester ICONS Vogue Ball.’

Deep in Vogue celebrates the colorful, emotional, political and deeply queer stories of the vogue scene in the United Kingdom and the many talented people involved in the community.

Synonymous with the gay ballrooms of ‘80s New York, this documentary asks why we need Vogue in Manchester now more than ever. While focusing their cameras around the Manchester ICONS Vogue Ball, the filmmakers examine important themes – like the disenfranchisement of black youth and the often reductive ways in which gay subcultures become commercialized.

Offering a deep and candid look at one welcoming community, Deep in Vogue is ultimately about people coming to love and accept themselves while finding a new family – and putting on a hell of a show in the process.

Watch the trailer for Deep in Vogue below. The documentary is now streaming on Dekkoo.

Dekkoo Films presents ‘The Summer with Carmen’ – now available to rent or own!

A brand-new original from Dekkoo Films, the colorful, funny and relentlessly sexy new gay comedy The Summer with Carmen follows actors, writing partners and best friends Demos and Nikitas (Yorgos Tsiantoulas and Andreas Labropoulos) as they spend a sweltering day together at a queer beach in Athens.

Nikitas, fed up with only being considered for stereotypical queer roles, becomes determined to create his own opportunities in the Greek film industry by directing his first feature. As the two casually nude friends soak up the sun, they begin to brainstorm a screenplay idea based on the colorful events of a previous summer – a life-changing period that involved a devastating break-up and a dog named Carmen.

Taking a fresh, rule-breaking perspective on storytelling, writer-director Zacharias Mavroeidis has devised a clever ‘film within a film,’ playfully shifting between timelines while delivering a funny and poignant look at queer romances, friendships and intimacy – not to mention pet ownership – all set against multiple steamy Greek summers to remember.

The Summer with Carmen is now available to rent or own from all major VOD platforms! It will be available to Dekkoo subscribers on the service later this year.

Short Film Spotlight: Sperm Friends

The short Argentine comedy Sperm Friends concerns two queer couples, three bottles of wine and one slightly awkward proposal.

Partners Andrea and Carla (Belén Castroagudín and Verónica Mayorga) are looking to become parents, but they’ve been running into a lot of issues when it comes to sperm donation.

The pair think they’ve finally come up with the perfect solution. They decide to ask Hernan and Facundo (Alberto Verla and Gastón Filgueira), their best gay friends, to be their donors. They’re even excited by the prospect of co-parenting with another couple. But they’re going to have to jump through a lot of hoops to get the men to agree.

What was supposed to be a relaxing couples’ night turns into an increasingly absurd evening of negotiation.

From director Ramiro Velasco, Sperm Friends is a cute, sweet-natured short about four friends who have the potential to build the family of their dreams… if they can just get themselves to agree on anything.

Watch the trailer for Sperm Friends below. The short film is now streaming on Dekkoo.

A personal video sparks a media firestorm in the acclaimed Singaporean drama ‘#LookatMe’

When twin brothers Sean and Ricky are invited to attend church with Sean’s girlfriend, they are treated to an Evangelical rock concert capped by a searing anti-gay sermon.

Incensed by what he’s seen, Sean, a Youtuber, decides to drop an outrageous video lampooning the megachurch’s pastor, but soon finds himself widely condemned – and even prosecuted – for flouting Singapore’s strict laws on public expression.

As Sean descends into near-madness in prison, Ricky gains prominence as an LGBTQ+ activist. Both find themselves at the heart of a culture war that spills out from social media into the real world.

Featuring an impressive lead performance by Yao (sometimes credited as Thomas Pang), an up-and-coming Singaporean actor who plays both brothers, #LookatMe blends together a wide variety of moods and genres, veering from deadly serious to colorfully camp without ever losing sight of its humanity.

Banned from screening in Singapore during a particularly ironic moment of life imitating art, director Ken Kwek’s acclaimed film tells a morally essential fable about social media celebrity, cancel culture and the erosion of basic human rights.

Watch the trailer for #LookatMe below. The film is now streaming on Dekkoo.

‘Metro Sexual,’ Australia’s first sitcom led by LGBTQ+ characters, is now on Dekkoo!

The beloved Australian comedy series Metro Sexual is finally available for U.S. audiences to enjoy, thanks to Dekkoo!

Filmed in mockumentary style reminiscent of ‘The Office’ and ‘Parks & Recreation,’ Metro Sexual starts with the serious premise that, thanks to dating apps, more people are catching sexually transmitted infections than ever before.

Riley Nottingham and Geraldine Hickey star as sexual health doctors Langdon Marsh and Steph Huddleston. The series follows the pair throughout their different days – and many hilarious adventures – at work.

They have a tough enough job as it is, but when a sudden outbreak of sexually transmitted infections rock Melbourne, their lives are made even harder. Also threatened by the news that their clinic may potentially be closing, the two doctors start doing whatever they can to prove their worth and save their workspace – all while continuing to juggling friendships and relationships with colleagues and managing their love lives.

Watch the trailer for Metro Sexual below. The first eight episodes of this hilarious and heartfelt queer comedy series are available now on Dekkoo. The second season arrives in July.