Category: Performing Arts

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.

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.

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.

‘Jump, Darling’ showcases a knockout performance by the late, great Cloris Leachman

The late, great Cloris Leachman delivers one of her finest late-career film roles in the moving, critically-acclaimed comedy-drama Jump, Darling.

Thomas Duplessie stars in the film as Russell, a struggling actor who moonlights as a drag queen under the name of Fishy Falters. Finding himself at crossroads in both his career and personal life, he escapes to the country and into the arms of Margaret, his aging grandmother (played by Leachman).

The pair soon find themselves in a mutually beneficial arrangement. As Margaret fights to avoid being put in an assisted living facility, Russell decides to move in and help. He also takes to the stage once more, using a local bar to showcase his glamorous skills and strike up a new romance with an attractive young bartender.

Leachman’s unparalleled comic timing and grounded pathos are used to great effect in writer-director Phil Connell’s intimate, genuinely heartfelt story, which features show-stopping musical numbers and profound truths about family dynamics.

An award-winning crowd-pleaser with humor and heart to spare, Jump, Darling is a true must-see about love, family and maintaining your dignity – no matter what your age is.

Watch the trailer for Jump, Darling below. The film is now streaming on Dekkoo.

Filmmaker Victoria Linares Villegas explores personal family history in this unique docudrama

A revelation about her family connection to an influential figure sets filmmaker Victoria Linares Villegas on her own path of playful self-discovery in this fascinating and deeply personal new docudrama.

It Runs in the Family begins when Villegas discovers she is related to Oscar Torres, a little-known Dominican director. She soon embarks on a cinematic excavation of his role in Caribbean fiction and leftist movements during the authoritarian 1940s.

Through her research, she pieces together a portrait of his creative and political legacy while breaking down the boundaries between his story and her own ambitions as an image-maker. She brings Torres’ work back to life through a series of elaborate re-stagings of his unproduced screenplays, with members of her family stepping in as actors.

Through this process of playful discovery, Villegas poses questions about the Dominican Republic’s political history, transgenerational memory and queer erasure.

A film full of heart, It Runs in the Family is a bold first feature from an exciting new voice in nonfiction filmmaking.

Watch the trailer for It Runs in the Family below. The film is now available on Dekkoo.

Author and performer E. Patrick Johnson challenges Southern stereotypes in the documentary ‘Making Sweet Tea’

Giving voice to a population too rarely acknowledged, researcher and performer E. Patrick Johnson’s 2008 novel “Sweet Tea” collected more than 60 life stories from black gay men who were born, raised and continue to live in the South.

Based on two years of ethnographic research, the book offered a window into the ways black gay men negotiate their identities, build community, maintain friendship networks and find partners – often in spaces that appear to be anti-gay.

A hit at countless film festivals around the country, the profoundly moving new documentary Making Sweet Tea follows Johnson as he travels to North Carolina, Georgia, New Orleans and Washington, D.C. in an effort to come to terms with his past and reconnect with some of the men he interviewed for the book. Johnson also transformed the book into several staged plays over the course of a decade.

Making Sweet Tea combines performance footage with interviews of the men, showing how they have changed since – and been changed by – their depictions in his book and plays. The film covers the subtle complexities of Johnson’s relationships with these men, with his family and with his hometown in North Carolina. It also restages Johnson’s performances of the men’s narratives in their homes, in their churches and at their jobs, sometimes with them directing him or even participating in the scene.

Blurring the line between art and life, Making Sweet Tea offers a glimpse into the lives of people not often given a platform to speak and demonstrates how research, artistry and real life converge.

Watch the trailer for Making Sweet Tea below. The film is now available on Dekkoo.

Activist and LGBTQ influencer Yves Mathieu East dances his way through ‘NYC Dreams’

Filmmakers J. Arcane and Paul Erskine focus on telling stories that push boundaries and encourage audiences to challenge their preconceived ideas. After completing numerous shorts, they began making feature films on their own as a crew of two.

Their sophomore feature, NYC Dreams, stars noted Black Lives Matter activist and LGBTQ influencer Yves Mathieu East as Theo, a gifted but struggling dancer in New York City who uses his daydreams to escape and search for love.

As he literally dances his way through the city that never sleeps, he experiences betrayals at the hands of lovers, is unexpectedly embraced by strangers and learns to start coping with the memories of an abusive childhood.

Beautifully photographed and with immersive music and impressive physicality, NYC Dreams eschews any traditional narrative structure. Instead, using minimal dialogue, it builds a rich tapestry of emotions mostly through movement while telling a profound story of memory and longing.

Check out the poster for NYC Dreams below. The film is now streaming on Dekkoo.

Director Rodrigo Bellott’s ‘Tu Me Manques’ is a riveting and unforgettably emotional must see

With films like Sexual Dependency and Who Killed the White Llama, writer-director Rodrigo Bellott established himself as one of the driving forces behind Bolivia’s nascent film industry. Not only is he an accomplished director in his own right, but he also oversees La Fabrica, Bolivia’s first official film school, where he shepherds emerging young talents through the filmmaking process.

In 2019, Bellott released his most acclaimed film to date, the moving and cathartic Tu Me Manques. We can’t recommend it more highly.

Accomplished Argentinian actor Oscar Martinez stars as Jorge, a conservative Bolivian father who receives news that his son, Gabriel , has committed suicide. Weeks after the tragedy, he finds his son’s laptop where he discovers he had a romantic relationship with Sebastian (Fernando Barbosa), another young countryman who lives in New York City, where his son was studying.

After an initial angry confrontation with Sebastian on Skype, Jorge decides to go to New York to look for answers about his son’s death. He soon learns that Sebastian has channeled his own grief into a bold new play in honor of his lost love, in which Gabriel’s inner turmoil is transformed into an eye-popping gay fantasia… and the result will change Jorge’s life forever.

Winner of the Grand Jury Prize at L.A. Outfest and the Audience Award at the Palm Springs International Film Festival, Tu Me Manques is a smart, stylish and ultimately life-affirming exploration of three men’s struggles to reconcile identity and heritage.

Watch the trailer for Tu Me Manques below. The film is now streaming on Dekkoo.