Category: New This Week

Short Film Spotlight: Affection

A thought-provoking 6-minute short from writer-director Connor Williams, Affection stars Justin Kang and Spencer Claus as Shawn and Luke, two young boyfriends who are unexpectedly confronted with their differences during a night out.

While walking down the street holding hands, a passing stranger makes a derogatory comment. The more confident, outspoken Luke’s response is to confront the situation head on – standing up for both himself and the man he loves. Shawn, however, has a different way or handling these incidents… though he’s seemingly reluctant to examine the reasons why.

Smart and compassionate where it counts, featuring terrific performances from the two lead actors, Affection examines the ways in which we deal with prejudice and what it says about our own levels of self-acceptance.

Check out the poster for Affection below. The short film is now available on Dekkoo.

Coming out gets more complicated than usual in the charming Italian rom-com ‘Tell No One’

Fast-paced, funny and even a little tear-inducing when it counts, Tell No One is a charming family comedy about successful young man who is long overdue to start telling the truth.

Mattia (Josafat Vagni) is about to move from Rome to Madrid to start a new job and marry his long-distance boyfriend Eduard (Jose Dammert). This will solve two problems: 1) He will be much closer to the man he loves; 2) He won’t have to bite the bullet and finally come out to his family.

His plan hits a major snag, however, when Eduard, having no idea that Mattia is still in the closet, announces that he has planned a surprise trip to Rome so that he can meet his boyfriend’s folks and ask for their son’s hand in marriage.

Stunned by this unexpected news, Mattia has to compose himself quickly and decide whether or not it’s time to tell the truth to his old-fashioned Italian parents.

Though the whole film takes place during one fateful day, director Ivan Silvestrini and screenwriter Roberto Proia use narration and a variety of creative visual flourishes to jump around in time and give the audience the full scope of Mattia’s family life.

Blending clever dialog and comic set-pieces with heartfelt moments of emotional poignancy, Tell No One should resonate for anyone who has spent a little too much time in the closet.

Watch the trailer for Tell No One below. The film is now streaming on Dekkoo.

Raúl Castillo and Sheila Vand star in the powerful coming-of-age drama ‘We the Animals’

Featuring riveting performances from Sheila Vand and Raul Castillo, We the Animals follows three boys who tear through their rural New York hometown while their young parents’ volatile relationship makes and unmakes the family many times over.

While Manny and Joel grow into versions of their loving and unpredictable father, Ma seeks to keep her youngest, Jonah, in the cocoon of home. More sensitive and conscious than his older siblings, Jonah increasingly embraces an imagined world all his own.

With a screenplay by Dan Kitrosser and Jeremiah Zagar based on the celebrated novel by Justin Torres, We the Animals is a visceral coming-of-age story propelled by layered performances from its astounding cast – including three talented, young first-time actors – and stunning animated sequences which bring Jonah’s torn inner world to life.

Drawing from his documentary background, director Jeremiah Zagar creates an immersive portrait of working class family life and brotherhood.

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

Don’t miss the delightfully insane (and insanely funny) new queer comedy series ‘Marque and Hector’

We’ve seen generations of cisgender men playing trans women in media. Maybe it’s time we flip the script and let a trans woman play a cisgender man for once!

Welcome to the hilarious world of Marque and Hector, a brand-new, hysterically funny web series in which gender norms have been torn to shreds and put together ass-backwards.

Joslyn DeFreece stars as Marque, an aging gay queen who is thirsty for YouTube fame and enlists the help of his dumb-as-a-bucket houseboy Hector (played by Linus Ignatius) in his mission to conquer the interwebs.

Woefully stupid, but gifted with a heart of gold, Hector proudly serves as Marque’s Vanna White, his magician’s assistant and his punching bag. The only problem? Marque bungles everything he touches — including his hopes and dreams.

In an age where representation is so sensitive and some productions feel like they’re only allowed to portray LGBTQ+ characters in a heroic light, this joyously demented comedy series is here to remind everyone that trans, queer and gender-noncomforming people are still allowed to be funny as hell!

Watch the trailer for Marque and Hector below. The full 5-episode first season is now streaming on Dekkoo.

‘Captain Faggotron Saves the Universe’ is a colorful and confrontational new comedy classic

Why be normal when you can be extraordinarily fabulous? That’s the question posed by Captain Faggotron Saves the Universe, a wildly funny, proudly over-the-top new indie comedy from writer-director Harvey Rabbit.

The film tells a kinky comic book-inspired story that would have the superheroes of Marvel clutching their pearls. Rodrigo Garcia Alves stars as Father Gaylord, a conflicted young priest who is hell bent on denying his homosexuality… but isn’t very good at it.

Meanwhile, his supernaturally powerful alien ex-lover, Queen Bitch (Bishop Black), is hatching a plan to turn the entire Earth gay. The repressed priest turns to superhero Captain Faggotron (Tchivett) for help, but the caped crusader finds himself highly conflicted. Clashing ideologies culminate in an orgy of gay demons… and a love that no longer has to hide.

Taking inspiration from The Rocky Horror Picture Show and the films of John Waters and Bruce LaBruce, this brazenly queer, subversively political new film was conceived in response to anti-gay attitudes around the world and uses camp as a tool of joyful resistance, confronting heteronormative structures with humor, garish glamour and a whole lot of attitude.

Watch the trailer for Captain Faggotron Saves the Universe below. The film is now streaming on Dekkoo.

Short Film Spotlight: Headlock

A powerful 16-minute short film from writer-director Damon Laguna, Headlock stars Alejandro Akara as Diego, a high school wrestling star whose father just happens to be the team’s coach – and puts an unhealthy amount of extra pressure on his shy, introverted son.

When Diego breaks from his father’s strict routine to attend a party with his best friend and secret crush Travis (Eduardo Alexis Peña), he takes the opportunity to finally express his feelings. Things don’t go entirely smoothly, and soon the whole team becomes aware of Diego’s sexuality.

Though he and Travis are able to come to a deeper understanding and finally unleash their pent-up desires, Diego knows he will have to muster up the courage to confront his father once and for all.

Developed at the USC School of Cinematic Arts, Headlock is a touching and thought-provoking short drama which examines masculinity and sexuality in men’s sports and the Latinx community.

Watch a short trailer for Headlock below. The film is now available on Dekkoo.

‘Wake Up, Leonard’ is here to satisfy your neurotic, quirky gay Christmas comedy needs!

Part comedy, part self-help nightmare, Wake Up, Leonard follows the adventures of one man who is failing miserably at “staying on the right vibe.” Set during the holidays, the film tells the story of a broken-hearted seeker with a tenuous grasp on wellness and too much faith in “the Universe.”

Leonard (co-writer Nigel DeFriez) is a self-obsessed young gay man who is moving into a new apartment with help from his perpetually stoned sister Orla (Kira Pearson).

An out-of-work actor and overworked assistant, Leonard rushes to his boss’s house to hang Christmas decorations and receives an unexpected text from his ex that gives Leonard lots of false hope, but little direction. Should he get back with his ex? Is this what will finally solve his existential quandary? There is only one way to find out.

An improvised feature shot during the pandemic, Wake Up, Leonard is a deeply funny and thoughtful feel-good movie about feeling bad, exploring themes of mental health, queer love and self-acceptance.

Watch the trailer for Wake Up, Leonard below. The film is now streaming on Dekkoo.

Sex and politics collide in the recently restored 1978 classic ‘Confessions of a Congressman’

Spanish director Eloy de la Iglesia specialized in many genres (including many legendarily gritty B-movies of the 1970s), but he doesn’t get as much credit for creating some of the first openly gay films in Spain’s cinematic history.

Fighting for liberty, love and your secret teenage lover are the themes of his 1978 film Confessions of a Congressman. Roberto (Jose Sacristan) is our protagonist. He is a leader and follower of the ideals of his radical leftist opposition party, but he’s hiding a secret from the party and his wife Carmen (Maria Luisa San Jose): he can’t resist the cheap beautiful street hustlers that bad-boy Nes (Angel Pardo) throws his way for various pleasures.

Eventually, the fascists find out about his proclivities and hire the blonde and angelic-looking Juanito (Jose Luis Alonso) to infiltrate Roberto’s life. But after a while, Juanito starts to find his place with Roberto, with politics and even with Carmen.

With the elections fast approaching all three members of this strange throuple will have to decide how much they’re willing to lose to avoid revealing the truth.

Watch a teaser trailer for Confessions of a Congressman below. The newly restored film is now streaming on Dekkoo.