Category: New This Wekk

Money and paranoia thwart a gay couple’s plans in the Dekkoo Original Short Jackplot

Directed with the colorful flair of a Tales from the Crypt-esque morality tale by UK filmmaker Marco De Luca, the new Dekkoo Original Short Film Jackplot shows what happens when money and paranoia conspire to thwart the best laid plans of a bickering couple.

Two handsome twenty-somethings, Kevin (Jack Parr) and Jay (Adam Redmore), drive home from the races after having won the jackpot, excited about their newfound fortune. The newlyweds fantasize about how to spend their big bag of cash, but disagreement turns into bitterness when Jay claims ownership of the win and prize.

As tensions mount and tempers rise, distraction becomes inevitable and the ride home turns into a race towards tragedy from which fate will ensure no one benefits from the windfall.

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

New This Week – 12/11/20

Second-generation Irani-German Parvis works at a refugee shelter where he meets brother and sister Irani refugees and develops a tenuous romance with Amon as his friends attempt refugee status. ‘No Hard Feelings’ is available to stream now on Dekkoo!

Strangers from opposite ends of the earth: Nizar, a Syrian refugee and Eric an Irish tourist, meet in the City of Angels and embark on a journey of trust, abandonment, tragedy and privilege. Stream ‘Irish Goodbye’ now on Dekkoo!

Marcos lands in New York only to find out his layover flight to San Francisco has been canceled. Having nowhere to go, he ends up in his friend’s apartment with a complete stranger: Alan. ‘A Stormy Night’ is available now on Dekkoo!

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Coming next week: Yet ANOTHER new release gay film comes to Dekkoo! You’re welcome!

The must-see relationship drama Keep the Lights On comes to Dekkoo

The critically-acclaimed 2012 relationship drama Keep the Lights On chronicles an emotionally and sexually charged journey of two men in New York City through love, friendship and addiction.

Documentary filmmaker Erik (Thure Lindhardt) and closeted lawyer Paul (Zachary Booth) meet through a casual encounter, but soon find a deeper connection and become a couple.

Individually and together, they are risk takers – compulsive, and fueled by drugs and sex. In an almost decade-long relationship defined by highs, lows, and dysfunctional patterns, Erik struggles to negotiate his own boundaries and dignity while being true to himself.

The film’s fearlessly personal screenplay, written by director Ira Sachs (The Delta, Love is Strange, Little Men, Frankie) is anchored by Lindhardt, who embodies Erik’s isolation and vulnerability with a gentle presence. Harrowing and romantic, visceral and layered, Keep the Lights On is a film that looks at love and all of its manifestations, taking it to dark depths and bringing it back to a place of grace.

Watch the trailer for Keep the Lights On below. The film is available now on Dekkoo.

Short Film Spotlight: Black Hat

At first blush, Shmuel (Adam Silver) is a pious Hasidic man leading a fairly simple life. By day he dutifully prays at the local synagogue and manages a busy dry cleaner. But when his wife and daughters leave town for a few days, Shmuel will step out of his simple daily life and into a more complex world lit by the night. When he misplaces his black hat along the way, Shmuel’s two lives will interconnect in a way he never expected.

The 15-minute short drama Black Hat follows twenty-four hours in the life of one Hasidic man that must wrestle with his own repressed identity. Through Shmuel’s story, writer Phillip Guttmann and director Sarah Smith raise the notion that these often mysterious and misunderstood religious individuals, typically only seen by the outside world on streets covered by hats and sheitels, are perhaps more complex – more like us – than we previously imagined.

Black Hat is “a story about loneliness and the feeling of being trapped between two worlds,” said director Smith. “Ultimately, this is a character study of a man searching for his place in the world, and our artistic approach will aim to support this main theme.”

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

New This Week – 12/4/20

A lucrative win at the races for newlyweds Kevin and Jay turns into a perilous car ride home when Jay claims ownership of the prize and has a very different idea of how to spend the cash to Kevin. Dekkoo Films presents the original short film, ‘Jackplot.’

In Manhattan, film-maker Erik bonds with closeted lawyer Paul after a fling. As their relationship becomes one fueled by highs, lows, and dysfunctional patterns, Erik struggles to negotiate his own boundaries while being true to himself. ‘Keep the Lights On’ is available to stream now on Dekkoo!

United States, the 50s. Amongst stuffed poodles, whiskey-infused teas, sinful mambo lessons, and threats of alien invasion, Mr(s). Fairytale spends her days locked in her dream home and without a moment to breathe. A surreal world where anyone can finally be who they want to be, but behind which hides another upsetting reality. Stream ‘Fairytale’ now on Dekkoo!

Carl, struggling to come to terms with his sexuality, meets James for a one night stand. ‘Your Heart is Homeless’ is streaming now on Dekkoo!

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Coming next week: A confidently out German-born Iranian falls for an Iranian immigrant in a refugee center in Faraz Shariat’s vibrant, lively, lovely debut. – Variety

The Ice King tells a story of art, sport, sexuality and rebellion

Featuring incredible unseen footage of some of his mort remarkable performances, the searing documentary The Ice King tells the story of lost figure skating icon John Curry. With access to Curry’s personal letters, archive interviews, and interviews with his family, friends and collaborators, this is a portrait of the man who turned ice-skating from a dated sport into an exalted art form.

Watch any figure skating and it falls into two possible camps: before and after John Curry. From what was a macho, technical sport whose judges punished deviation blossomed – through John Curry’s stubborn beauty – ice-dancing. This was no Holiday on Ice, but a new artistic medium. After winning gold at the Winter Olympics for a rebelliously balletic routine, Curry saw the world’s stages sheeted with ice. Audiences and reviewers alike were enthralled by his genius. But Curry’s story is about more than skating. On the night of the final, Curry became the first openly gay Olympian at a time when homosexuality was barely legal.

From bullying and prejudice, to relief in the gay underworld, to his untimely death from AIDS, Curry’s story dovetails with the experiences of a generation. Tortured by demons, Curry was forever on the run. Never owning a home, he lived on the favors of those who loved him. The only place he found true freedom was the ice.

The Ice King tells the story of a man whose body was a battleground. From love affairs, to violence in sex clubs, to its ‘unmanly’ elegance on the ice, every act was rebellion. John Curry was no activist, but an artist expressing his authentic self – yet in a world where his existence was taboo, his life was unavoidably political.

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

Short Film Spotlight: Black Knuckle and Deputy Maltese

Two men on opposite sides of the law – a notorious outlaw and a principled deputy – can’t quite ignore their feelings for one another in the heartwarming Western comedy Black Knuckle and Deputy Maltese.

Deputy Maltese (Lane Compton) has mixed feelings when he learns that Black Knuckle (Gabriel Sousa) has been apprehended. A wanted thief, the most valuable asset Black Knuckle ever stole was the deputy’s heart. Still, Maltese can’t sit idly by with his lover behind bars. He lets Black Knuckle go, allowing himself to be tied up in the process to make it look like to proper escape.

Their parting is bittersweet, but thankfully won’t last long. Black Knuckle is soon captured by a band of even more dangerous outlaws. It’s up to Deputy Maltese – along with his badass, no-nonsense female sheriff (Kym Wilson) – to step up, ride out and go save the man he loves.

With a lightening-fast pace and game performances, Black Knuckle and Deputy Maltese plays out like a live-action cartoon. Director Jason Phillips and screenwriter Theo Poling have great fun upending American Western tropes in delightful ways. Using a diverse cast, playing characters who freely accept and encourage the gay ‘will-they-won’t-they’ romance unfolding before them, the film manages to be radically subversive in the most charming, easy-breezy, non-confrontational way possible. It’s just good, clean fun. The only downside is that, at just 14-minutes, you’ll wish it was a feature-length film.

Watch the trailer for Black Knuckle and Deputy Maltese below. The film is now streaming on Dekkoo.

Don’t miss the surprising Dekkoo Original short film Do We Really Have To Say Goodbye?

Ryan (Noah Brown) and Jacob (Jamal Douglas) have been together for four years. They had planned to get married in the summer of 2020. Then the pandemic hit… and Jacob got sick.

To make matters worse, because of the nature of the virus, Ryan was not allowed to visit Jacob in the hospital. Nor was he there when Jacob died. But before his passing, Jacob had recorded a message on his phone for Ryan. Now, Ryan has travelled to their favorite beach to watch the video message and to say goodbye – even though going outside places Ryan in immediate, physical danger.

Making movies during the pandemic is, obviously, an extremely tricky task, but writer-director J.T. Seaton pulls it off with aplomb. At just 11 minutes, Do We Really Have to Say Goodbye packs a hefty emotional punch… and has a horror twist in store as well.

Do We Really Have to Say Goodbye is available to stream now on Dekkoo.

New This Week – 11/27/20

A polyamorous male couple test the limits of a restrictive society when they become romantically entangled with a beautiful young woman. ‘The Taste of Betel Nut’ is now available to stream on Dekkoo!

A seemingly pious Hasidic man living a secret double life misplaces his black hat one night which will cause his two separate lives to collide in a way he never imagined. Watch ‘Black Hat’ now on Dekkoo!

John Curry transformed ice skating from a dated sport into an exalted art form. Coming out on the night of his 1976 Olympic win, he became the first openly gay Olympian in a time when homosexuality was not fully legal. Ferociously ambitious yet bent on self-destruction, Curry was an artist and an athlete whose body time and again – sometimes against his will – became a political battlefield. ‘The Ice King’ is available to stream now on Dekkoo!

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Coming next week – Dekkoo Films present a new original short film from the winner of our ‘Love & Distance’ short film competition!

Alan Cumming and Garret Dillahunt fight for their right to be parents in the acclaimed drama Any Day Now

Set in Los Angeles in 1978, the gripping drama Any Day Now stars Alan Cumming and Garret Dillahunt as a brave couple who must fight for their right to be parents.

When singer, Rudy Donatello (Cumming) meets ambitious lawyer, Paul Fliger (Dillahunt), little do they know they are about to embark on the biggest and most important journey of their lives.

When Rudy’s neighbor is arrested and sent to jail, the couple take in her teenage son, Marco (Isaac Leyva) and they quickly become the family that Marco has always wanted. But when their alternative living arrangements are exposed, the family become subject to prejudice from everyone around them. The pair then becomes embroiled in a fight against a biased legal system to keep the child they have come to love as their own.

Winner of numerous international audience awards and inspired by a touching true story, Any Day Now is an emotional drama, which resonates on a universal level and reminds us of the importance of never giving up.

Watch the trailer for Any Day Now below. The film is streaming now on Dekkoo.