Category: Performing Arts

Short Film Spotlight: A Bela é Poc

An intense short film from Brazilian writer-director Eric Lima and co-writer/star Taciano Soares, A Bela é Poc follows a proudly queer young man who is stuck living within a harsh environment that threatens his happiness at every turn.

Belinho (Soares), a devoted Francophile, dreams of a glamorous life on the stage, but his day-to-day reality is something quite different. Working to support his ailing, homophobic father, he’s constantly dodging threats of violence from the people in his community.

Nonetheless, with support from Mara, his best friend and biggest fan (Isabela Catao in a scene-stealing performance), he soldiers on, refusing to suppress himself for the closed-minded comfort of those around him.

But when he’s served a one-two punch of life-altering tragedies, Belinho risks drifting off into his Edith Piaf-inspired fantasy world for good.

With high energy performances, exceptional camera work and one particularly electric homage to My Own Private Idaho, A Bela é Poc offers up a hard-hitting examination of one man’s admirable resilience in the face of overwhelming adversity.

Check out the poster for A Bela é Poc below. The short film is now streaming on Dekkoo.

An accomplished figure skater reveals his truth in the documentary ‘Go Figure: The Randy Gardner Story’

In Go Figure: The Randy Gardner Story, two-time Olympian and World Champion, the legendary Randy Gardner, explores his true identity through figure skating and his own one man show.

With his skating partner of over fifty years, Tai Babilonia, the pair experienced the heights of worldwide glory and devastating personal tragedy.

Now that the intense glare of the public spotlight has softened, he is free to finally reveal his untold magical and meaningful journey… both on and off the ice.

Go Figure: The Randy Gardner Story is a moving film filled with family secrets, closeted sexuality and the price that one gifted and wildly accomplished man paid to keep everything quiet.

Watch a short trailer for Go Figure: The Randy Gardner Story below. The film is now streaming on Dekkoo.

Nico Greetham co-stars in the charming ’90s-set theater kid comedy ‘Dramarama’

It’s the end of the summer of 1994 and Gene (Nick Pugliese) is preparing for his high school drama friends’ final murder mystery slumber party!

The theatrical hostess, Rose (Anna Grace Barlow), will fly off to start college the next morning, followed by the earnest Claire (Megan Suri), charismatic Oscar (‘Love, Victor’ and ‘American Horror Story’ heartthrob Nico Greetham) and sarcastic Ally (Danielle Kay).

Before they head off to begin their separate lives, however, Gene wants to come out of the closet – but he’s terrified of what his sheltered Christian friends might think… especially Oscar.

The feature-length debut of prolific short film director and producer Jonathan Wysocki, Dramarama is like a perfect mix of The Breakfast Club and The Big Chill. Featuring winning performances from the pitch-perfect ensemble cast, the film offers up a nostalgic and deeply funny coming-of-age tale and a poignant love letter to drama nerds, late bloomers and the intense friendships that mark our youth.

Watch the trailer Dramarama below. The film is now streaming on Dekkoo.

Short Film Spotlight: After Sunset, Dawn Arrives

A 17-minute short film from writer-director Andy Yi Li, After Sunset, Dawn Arrives tells an inspiring story about how it’s never too late to embrace a new passion.

Set in Los Angeles in 2005, the film follows Wen (Jesse Wang), a recent widower who has been suppressing his sexuality for a long, long time.

Happening upon a ballroom dance class for men, he peers through the window with curiosity, but his old-fashioned masculine ways prevent him from going inside.

When he later runs into Ken (Todd Lien), the ridiculously hot class instructor, at a local bathhouse, he’s convinced to come by and give the class a try. This sends Wen on an emotional journey where he is finally able to open up – not only to himself, but also to his deceased wife.

Check out the poster for After Sunset, Dawn Arrives below. The short film is now streaming on Dekkoo.

Two up-and-coming gay songwriters get a little too close to screen legend Gloria Swanson in ‘Boulevard: A Hollywood Story’

For Gloria Swanson, the iconic star of Sunset Boulevard, both the movie and the character of Norma Desmond provided a renewed spotlight.

Swanson strategically began efforts to parlay her success into a musical stage adaptation of the film. Enter, Dickson Hughes and Richard Stapley, two struggling songwriters-in-love looking for their big break.

Enamored by the idea of helping Swanson step into the next phase of her career, Stapley and Hughes found themselves whisked away by Swanson to a sumptuous house in Palm Springs, where the trio started creating the musical.

As the days wore on, an unusual love triangle began to take hold. Hughes and Stapley found their intimate relationship intruded upon by Swanson.

Boulevard: A Hollywood Story is a fascinating documentary about three individuals who attempted to share a melody… and how the music of that moment defined the rest of their lives.

Watch the trailer for Boulevard: A Hollywood Story below. The full documentary is now available on Dekkoo.

‘Making Montgomery Clift’ reexamines the iconic film star’s misunderstood personal life

Classic film star and queer icon Montgomery Clift was one of the most vital and influential actors in the history of cinema, bucking traditions both on screen and off.

Countless biographies, however, have reduced him to labels like “tragically self-destructive” and “tormented.” With the documentary Making Montgomery Clift, nephew Robert Anderson Clift and co-director Hillary Demmon aim to set the record straight, rigorously examining the flawed narratives that have come to define Monty’s legacy and uncovering a much more complicated and nuanced picture.

Drawing on interviews with family and loved ones, as well as a rich collection of unreleased archival materials from Monty and his brother, Brooks Clift, this fresh portrait of the actor’s passions, contributions and commitment to living and working in his own way gives one of Hollywood’s most underappreciated legends his due.

Watch the trailer for Making Montgomery Clift below. The documentary is now available on Dekkoo.

Short Film Spotlight: Lillies in the Forest

Andrew Dolan, a veteran character actor with tons of impressive film and television credits (including ‘The Blacklist,’ ‘The Americans’ and ‘The Good Wife’ – among many others), made his screenwriting debut with this deliberately strange, but deeply heartfelt four-minute short film.

Dolan stars in Lillies in the Forest as an unnamed, flamboyantly dressed man waiting on a subway platform. Once he boards the train, he sets his eyes on seemingly gruff jock seated near the exit.

With his dirty, cracked fingers, baseball gear and sleeveless shirt that reads ‘dirtbag crew,’ he doesn’t seem like the kind of guy who will return our hero’s affections.

When the pair bond over their mutual affection for screen legend Myrna Loy, however, it sets off a surreal chain reaction that turns their ordinary commute into the low-key romantic musical of their dreams.

Watch a short trailer for Lillies in the Forest below. The full four-minute short film is now available to stream on Dekkoo.

‘Phantom Project’ is a playful and quirky supernatural rom-com from Chile

Phantom Project stars Juan Cano as Pablo, a young actor who dreams of landing a role in a film.

In order to pay the bills, he works as a simulated patient in medical schools and strange alternative therapy sessions. It’s not just his career that has hit a snag. His romantic and social lives are also in trouble.

He’s still in love with his successful ex-boyfriend and his roommate has disappeared without paying rent, leaving behind several problems… including a ghost who is now haunting his living space.

With nowhere to go but up, Pablo becomes more determined than ever to fix his situation and finally turn his dreams into a reality.

From writer-director Roberto Doveris, Phantom Project is a delightfully off-beat supernatural gay comedy with humor and heart to spare.

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

Now Available: Sublime

How do you avoid losing something precious when it’s the very thing tearing you up inside?

Whether he’s writing music with his garage band buddies, having dinner with his family or sneaking off into the woods with his girlfriend, 16-year-old Manu (Martín Miller) is never quite present. He’s consumed by a secret that’s been eating him up inside.

In his dreams, Manu and his best friend Felipe (Teo Inama Chiabrando) lie in bed together, staring longingly into one another’s eyes while inching closer and closer together. Though they never kiss, the desire is clear. That desire simmers beneath the surface of writer-director Mariano Biasin’s moving new coming-of-age drama Sublime.

Featuring beautiful cinematography, an exceptional soundtrack and palpable chemistry between lead actors Miller and Inama Chiabrando, this award-winning new film follows one teen whose affection for his best friend can only stay suppressed for so long.

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

A filmmaker becomes the target of a serial killer in the colorful new horror-comedy CUT!

Writer-director Marc Ferrer also stars in his new film CUT! as Marcos, a struggling low-budget filmmaker who is desperate to finish his latest project – a queer take on Italian Giallo thrillers of the 1970s.

When the cast and crew of his movie end up the victims of a deranged serial killer, Marcos quickly becomes both a prime suspect for the investigators and the killer’s next potential target. He soon finds he must keep working if he wants to survive.

Paying homage to sleazy Euro-thrillers and the early films of Pedro Almodóvar, this vibrant new horror-comedy melds together mystery, camp, pastiche and heavy doses of homoeroticism.

CUT! is a rollicking meta slasher which proudly showcases the weird, wild and wonderful world of queer artists in Spain and Catalonia.

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