Category: New Release

Now Available: Not Knowing

Umut (Emir Ozden) is a young water polo player – a gentle and quiet high school senior, just trying to live his life in a complicated world.

When a fellow player spreads a rumor that he is gay, Umut, displaying confidence and maturity beyond his years, refuses to deny the allegation, apologize or explain himself.

His parents, distracted by their own marital problems, prove powerless to stem any fallout as his time at high school becomes more and more fraught – until events reach a shocking head.

Set in the high testosterone world of teenage water polo, and a sometimes-suffocating Turkish society, Not Knowing holds a mirror up to what it still means to be young and gay today in so much of the world today.

Watch the trailer for Not Knowing below. The film is available now on Dekkoo.

Short Film Spotlight: Nuclear Family

18-year-old Jules (Louka Minnella) has reluctantly returned to the beach-side nudist camp where he spent summers are a child. He’s been dragged there by his mother (Catherine Grosjean), who is constantly testing his boundaries, along with his little brother (Lohen Van Houtte).

While taking a moment to contribute to a boardwalk blood drive, he meets Karim and attractive, flirty young volunteer. Their interaction is brief, but he can feel that there is a spark between them. When he comes back later, the two make plans to spend the evening – Karim’s last in town – together.

Unfortunately, when Jules’ mother makes a spectacle of herself, wandering naked beyond the camp’s perimeter, it throws his romantic plans into jeopardy and forces him to start reckoning with their problematic mother-son dynamic.

A thoughtful, beautifully-shot 19-minute short from Belgian director Faustine Crespy, Nuclear Family upends the typical gay coming-of-age story in interesting ways. It also features a game cast who are not afraid to strip down to sell the drama and pathos.

Nuclear Family is available now on Dekkoo.

Now Available: A Wake

A Wake is an affecting new drama about a family coping with the death of a teenage boy named Mitchel. Questions linger about the nature of Mitchel’s death, but no one seems to want to talk about it.

Mason (Noah Urrea), Mitchel’s identical twin, is desperate to reach his brother by any spiritual means in an effort to assuage his relentless guilt. Precocious preteen Molly (Sofia Rosinsky) presides over the ceremony, determined for it to go smoothly, but finds herself in over-her-head. And older sister Megan (Megan Trout), fueled by anger and alcohol, insists on asking the questions everyone’s been ignoring.

When Mitchel’s secret ex-boyfriend, Jameson (Kolton Stewart), shows up to the wake unexpectedly, the family is forced to confront realities about Mitchel’s life.  When the children clash with their elders over how to handle the situation, family members left torn apart look for solace in places they least expected it.

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

Short Film Spotlight: Red Aninsri; Or, Tiptoeing on the Still Trembling Berlin Wall

Inspired by a convention of Cold War-era Thai filmmaking not well known to American audiences – wherein most of the actors voices were dubbed to emphasize character – the politically-charged queer espionage thriller Red Aninsri; Or, Tiptoeing on the Still Trembling Berlin Wall carries the viewer through a strange world where cinema and reality meet.

The film follows Ang, a transgender sex worker with a pretty (and deliberately dubbed) feminine voice, who is assigned a special mission as an undercover spy. She disguises herself as a cis-masculine man to enter into a romantic relationship with Jit, a belligerent yet idealistic student activist with an evil voice (also dubbed for cinematic effect).

Ang must extract important information from Jit. However, the mission goes awry as she slowly falls for him. Apolitical at first, Ang is slowly awakened by Jit to see the other world where people speak in another way.

Hyper-stylistic, this unusual and fascinating 30-minute short film marks writer-director Ratchapoom Boonbunchachoke as an artist to keep an eye on.

Watch the trailer for Red Aninsri; Or, Tiptoeing on the Still Trembling Berlin Wall below. The full film is available now on Dekkoo.

Don’t miss the award-winning, critically-acclaimed Kanarie

Johan Niemand (Schalk Bezuidenhout) is a fashion-loving gay teen in small-town South Africa in 1985, a time of apartheid, religious conservatism and war – an era when not even his idol Boy George had dared to come out publicly as gay yet. 

When Johan is called up to serve his compulsory two-year military training, he escapes the border war by joining The South African Defence Force Church Choir and Concert Group, known as Die Kanaries (The Canaries), where he discovers his true self through hardship, camaraderie, first love and the liberating freedom of music.

A winner of over 15 different international awards, Kanarie earned rave reviews from critics. It currently has a 100% Fresh rating on Rotten Tomatoes. The Los Angeles Times called it “A rich, poignant and finely observed musical drama.” Michael McNeely in theBUZZ said “Every once in a while comes a film that is filled with so much joy, human connection, and emotional turmoil, you know that as long as it sticks the landing, it is a masterpiece.”

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

Mailman is a mad-cap black comedy, a bizarre musical and a touching coming-out story all wrapped up in one film

Phil (played by writer-director Joseph Baken) is a mail carrier, and though he loves his job, he really wants to be a writer. But how does one become a creative force? Especially when you feel stuck in a rut?

Phil thinks he’s finally found the answer when an old woman on his route dies under very mysterious circumstances. Suspecting foul play, he descends into an investigatory rabbit hole, hoping to land a juicy story that will inspire his novel. But, like Dorothy in The Wizard of Oz, Phil discovers the most important journey in uncovering truth is not an outward one – or a wild goose chase – but a quest for inner truth.

Featuring a hilarious ensemble cast that quickly takes the story in all sorts of bizarre, over-the-top directions, Mailman is a black comedy, an unexpected musical, and a modern coming-out story all wrapped in one.

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

The lost queer classic Wild Tigers I Have Known has been restored and remastered for its 15th Anniversary

A 13-year-old boy learns to cope with his newfound sexuality and his unrequited love for the coolest kid at school in this lyrical coming-of-age indie from visionary director Cam Archer.

After being work-shopped at the 2005 Sundance Screenwriter’s Lab, Wild Tigers I Have Known had its world premiere at the 2006 Sundance Film Festival where it earned stellar reviews from critics. The film went on to be screened at New Directors/New Films Festival, London International Film Festival, Locarno International Film Festival and AFI Film Festival.

Despite great word-of-mouth, the film was heavily re-edited before being released theatrically by IFC Films in 2007. This shorter edition changed the sound as well as the order of the scenes, making them chronological. The edited version also leads to a completely different interpretation of the film’s events and themes – one not in line with the director’s original intent. In Europe, where the film was released on DVD only, the film was trimmed down to an even shorter 1 hour and 13 minutes.

In honor of the film’s 15th Anniversary, the indie boutique distribution label Altered Innocence has restored and remastered the film, presenting the full uncut version as Cam Archer envisioned it.

Watch the new trailer for Wild Tigers I Have Known below. The film is available now on Dekkoo.

Two high school friends get closer than they ever expected in the coming-of-age drama Blurred Lines

Janik and Samuel (Emil von Schönfels and Mekyas Mulugeta) are extremely close best friends celebrating the end of their senior year of high school. Both come from completely different worlds. Janik’s parents are seemingly perfect, while Samuel comes from a broken home. Naturally, Samuel is looking for stability while Janik just wants to rebel.

Sex and sexuality are never far from the surface for both, which leads the pair to one impulsive moment that could threaten their friendship forever. In an attempt to rekindle their relationship, the boys set off on a trip to Istanbul, but the blurred line that has been crossed proves hard to re-establish.

Based on a young adult novel by German writer and filmmaker Finn-Ole Heinrich, Blurred Lines (also known as Stambul Garden) is a thoroughly modern take on the bonds that develop between young men.

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

Gary Oldman and Alan Bates star in the 1988 drama We Think the World of You

Based on a 1960 novel by British writer J.R. Ackerley, We Think the World of You stars Gary Oldman and Alan Bates as ex-lovers who find their relationship put to the test over the love of a dog.

Originally released in 1988, the film is set in post-War London and follows Johnny (Oldman), an aimless young bisexual man who is sent to prison. He is forced to entrust his beloved dog, Evie, to the reluctant care of his down-trodden parents and older, middle-class ex-lover and best friend, Frank (Bates).

After a series of visits to Johnny’s parents’ home, Frank bonds with the dog – whose mischievous spirit reminds him of his incarcerated friend. As it becomes apparent to Frank that Johnny’s father is beating the dog, who is left for days on end in a small yard, a class war erupts over Evie’s welfare, exacerbated by Johnny’s manipulative and antagonistic wife Megan (Frances Barber), whose sole aim is to claim Johnny back from Frank on his forthcoming release.

A set of tragi-comic relationships evolve with the dog coming to represent the hold these two men really have over one another.

Though it was hard to find for quite a long time, We Think the World of You is now available to audiences once again on Dekkoo.

Short Film Spotlight: Two Men by the Sea

After leaving Brazil, Cesar (played by writer-director Gabriel Motta) meets Martin (Mauri Liiv) at an empty café in Tallinn, Estonia. Cesar is just killing some time before his train departs. He wasn’t expecting to meet someone. And though their connection is brief, it’s hard to deny that both of them want to keep the conversation going.

Channeling beloved films like Andrew Haigh’s Weekend and Richard Linklater’s Before Trilogy, Two Men by the Sea is a deeply charming new 16-minute short film drama from writer-director-star Gabriel Motta which examines that brief spark of attraction that keeps us coming back for more. In front of these two attractive young men lies an uncertainty as infinite as the sea itself.

Watch a short clip from the film below. The full short film is available now on Dekkoo.

https://vimeo.com/551371343