The Wound is a heartfelt and wildly unique gay film

Brimming with sex and violence, The Wound is an exploration of tradition and sexuality set amid South Africa’s Xhosa culture.

Every year, the tribe’s young men participate in an ancient coming-of-age ritual. Xolani, a quiet and sensitive factory worker (played by openly gay musician Nakhane Touré), is assigned to guide Kwanda, a city boy from Johannesburg sent by his father to be toughened up. As Kwanda defiantly negotiates his queer identity within this masculine environment, he quickly recognizes the nature of Xolani’s relationship with fellow guide Vija. The three men commence a dangerous dance with each other and their own desires and, soon, the threat of exposure elevates the tension to breaking point.

Don’t miss what is easily one of the most heartfelt and wildly unique gay films of the past several years.

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

Try My Brother’s Shoes on for size!

Directed by Adam Reeves, My Brother’s Shoes is a fish-out-of-water zany comedy that borders on fantasy and reality.

Dallas, portrayed by country singer Peter Stringfellow, is a successful executive with a beautiful wife (Gretta Sosine) and a lovely home. He has dreams of having a family and leading a rich, conservative life. Austin (Jacob Ellis) is his younger gay brother who is always in trouble financially and romantically. He has dreams of winning first place in the local drag queen contest and then using the money to start a new life.

Each brother thinks the other “has it so good” and wishes that they could experience what the other one’s life is really like. By a strange twist of fate, they switch places. The world around them sees no difference but Dallas and Austin realize they have been switched.

Now Austin must handle the office for Dallas as Dallas spends the day getting ready for the upcoming drag contest with the help of Austin’s sidekick, Jackie. The hilarity reaches new heights as evening comes and Austin goes home to Dallas’s wife Katelyn, who is ready to start making a family with him. Dallas goes to the theater to perform on stage in drag and win for Austin! How far will they go?

My Brother’s Shoes is now available on Dekkoo.

Cinema Spotlight: Cupcakes

From Eytan Fox the director of Yossi, comes this extravagant and unashamedly
entertaining Eurovision parody featuring a feel-good soundtrack provided by Babydaddy
from the Scissor Sisters.

Set in contemporary Tel Aviv, Cupcakes follows six diverse best friends who gather to
watch the wildly popular UniverSong competition. Appalled by the Israeli entry, they
decide to create their own and record it on a mobile phone. Unbeknownst to them, their
performance is seen by the UniverSong judges and selected as Israel’s entry for next
year’s competition.

With bright, Almodóvar-esque styling, irresistibly catchy tunes and a
gloriously uplifting storyline, this laugh-out-loud comedy is a refreshing ode to music,
friendship and romance.

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

Watch the New Dekkoo Original Series Stranger Hearts!

From writer-director Kevin James Thornton, the filmmaker behind the 2019 feature How to Get from Here to There, comes Stranger Hearts, a thoughtful, sexy and deeply heartfelt new Dekkoo Original Series following three queer characters of wildly different backgrounds.

First, there is Andre (newcomer Qua Robertson Harper), a shy young African-American man struggling with his sexual identity. When his mother finds a stack of gay porn hiding in his closet, the truth starts inching ever closer to the surface. Then there is Luka (Amo), a gender non-conforming photographer who has fallen on hard financial times. In need of a steady job, Luka decides to dip their toe into the potentially risky world of online escorting. Lastly, there is Billy (Matt Moran), a smooth-taking media mogul who finds his life turned upside down when he’s diagnosed with an incurable heart disease. While waiting for a transplant, he begins reevaluating his life and learning to appreciate the people closest to him.

Though they don’t know it, all three of these disparate characters are soon to be connected – through fate, work, family, love… and donuts.

Stranger Hearts is available now exclusively on Dekkoo.

Make Way for Cubby

Mark (writer-director Mark Blane), the protagonist and anti-hero of the new dark comedy Cubby, is a misanthropic 26-year-old gay man who has been living in his mother’s garage in Indiana. An illustrator who works almost exclusively on sexually explicit-and BDSM-themed-artwork, Mark is stuck in a state of arrested development. He’s pretty much the last person you would expect to find a job working with children… but that’s exactly what happens. When he lies about getting a job opportunity in New York City, he ends up taking a rel job babysitting for 6-year-old Milo (Joseph Seuffert), a new best friend who fully accepts Mark, but does little to help him meet the challenges of everyday life.

Falling behind on rent, and running out of anti-anxiety pills, Mark finally discovers the inspiration he needs, in the form of an imaginary-friend-superhero named Leather-Man (Christian Patrick), who appears to him with the help of a psychedelic cupcake. As a sexy metaphor for discipline and control, Leather-Man helps Mark onto the path for success, but not before Mark’s babysitting adventures turn from empowering, to risky and ultimately transformative.

Featuring a sensational supporting performance from Patricia Richardson (Home Improvement), Cubby is a demented, yet completely charming comedy that marks the arrival of an original new cinematic voice in writer-director-star Mark Blane.

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

Short Film Spotlight: Battle Cry

Kyle Reaume is an award winning Toronto-based director, writer, actor and editor. Graduating from Toronto Film School in 2015, his student short film The Lazarus Files took home Best Picture, Best Producer, Best Editor and Best Production Design awards. His collective shorts have screened in over sixty film festivals worldwide.

In 2016, Kyle won the inaugural Inside Out BravoFact Pitch Competition, receiving a $50,000 grant to produce his short, What About Shelley, which screened at festivals worldwide, including Canada, the US, Germany, China, and Iceland. His short film Vertical Lines won Best Men’s Short at 2018 Wicked Queer Boston, and Best Screenplay at the 2019 Future of Film Showcase. Currently, he is developing his first feature film.

Kyle’s latest short film, Battle Cry, is now available on Dekkoo. At the oldest-running queer theatre in the world, Toronto’s most cerebral drag queen and “tragicomedienne” Pearle Harbour prepares to take the stage for her new show “Battle Cry: Songs Of Warfare & Gaiety”.

Watch a short clip from Battle Cry below. The film is now available on Dekkoo.

 

Watch the trailer for the short animated romantic comedy Top 3!

Top 3 is an animated romantic comedy about love, life, lists and what happens after falling helplessly in love.

In this funny, bittersweet animated romantic comedy from Sweden, perpetual list-maker Anton falls in love with David, but things start to go awry when Anton realizes that his dreams in life might be in direct opposition to his new partner’s.

A Dekkoo Original (the first animated film of its kind), Top 3 is a multiple-award-winning co-production of Swedish Television, with support from the Swedish Film Institute.

Watch the trailer for Top 3 below. The film is now available on Dekkoo.

 

 

Short Film Spotlight: Dirty Talk

The short comedy Dirty Talk follows a gay, conservative English teacher named Nathan (played by writer-director Jeff Sumner) who is having dinner with his not-so-conservative friend Zach (played by the hilarious Jason Boegh).

At dinner, Zach accuses Nathan of being prudish when it comes to sex. So Nathan tells Zach about a wild sexual encounter with a hot Latin man who loves to talk dirty pushing Nathan way out of his comfort zone. As Nathan speaks, we get to see what happened on that fateful night that made him feel so awkward.

Based on a few actual events, this delightfully “dirty” twelve-minute short film offers up lots of laughs, some titillating scenes and a few surprises along the way.

Dirty Talk is available now on Dekkoo.

Short Film Spotlight: Play It Like a Man

It’s summertime in the Landes. Looking to cure their boredom, fifteen-year-old footballers Loris and Thomas (Simon Boutin and Matthieu Lucci) by engaging in what they assume will be some largely harmless trouble-making.

When they end up stealing the mobile phone of their coach (Samuel Theis), they discover clandestine photos of young naked footballers in the shower. Loris seems to be the main subject of this voyeurism. Cut to the quick, the teenager goes to his trainer’s place to seek revenge… and things get way, way out of hand.

An edgy twenty-one-minute thriller from French writer-director Laurent Lunetta (who worked as the art director on the acclaimed Stranger by the Lake), Play It Like a Man is a riveting short work that isn’t afraid to tackle taboo subjects.

Watch this short excerpt from Play It Like a Man below. The film is available now on Dekkoo.

You’re Invited to The Perfect Wedding!

The Perfect Wedding tells the story of Paul Fowler (Eric Aragon) and Gavin Greene (Jason T. Gaffney), two young gay men who meet and fall in love over the Christmas holidays.

Charismatic, handsome Paul is a recovering alcoholic, eighteen months sober, but still picking up the pieces of the destruction he’d wrought while drinking. He lives at home with his parents, Richard (James Rebhorn) and Meryl (Kristine Sutherland), and with their support and the help of his AA sponsor Zach (Sal Rendino), Paul is learning how to live one day at a time.

But Christmas is approaching, and Paul’s adopted sister Alana (Apolonia Davalos) is coming home for the holidays. This won’t be just a regular family celebration — she’s recently engaged and the weekend will be spent planning her June wedding. She’s bringing her best friends Roy (Roger K. Stewart) and Vicki (Annie Kerins) home with her, to help with the task.

Problem is, Roy is Paul’s ex-boyfriend, and their relationship was a casualty to Paul’s drinking. In fact, the two young men haven’t seen each other since their very messy breakup. Nervous about seeing his ex again, Roy talks his good friend Gavin into joining him for the weekend, and pretending to be his new boyfriend.

When Paul and Gavin meet, sparks of attraction fly — but Gavin thinks Roy’s still hung up on Paul. And of course, the last thing Paul wants to do is hurt his ex all over again.

Meanwhile, like all families, the Fowlers must deal with bad news as well as good, and we discover that patriarch Richard has been recently diagnosed with early on-set Alzheimer’s. He is essentially symptom-free, but Meryl is terrified of what the future holds and throws herself into planning a lavish wedding for their daughter, Alana. Even though Meryl knows it’s foolish, she wants to create a wedding so big and so beautiful that no one — not even Richard — will ever forget it.

When Paul realizes that his sister’s wedding plans are getting steamrolled by their mom, he gets involved and convinces Alana’s fiancé Kirk (Brendan Griffin) to re-propose to her, asking her to marry him that very day, in a small ceremony at sunset near the water, with only close friends and family attending, just as Alana has always imagined. And with Paul’s help, Richard also confronts Meryl and convinces her to join him in the present instead of living burdened with the uncertainties of the future.

The proposal, the intimate wedding, and Paul and Gavin’s ultimate connection are touching scenes in a warm and funny story about a very real, modern American family.