Category: Pride

A closeted A-list actor has a secret affair in the sexy, underseen gem ‘I Am Syd Stone’

Syd Stone (Travis Nelson), the title character of the feature film I Am Syd Stone, is a hunky former A-List actor whose once-promising career has hit a major slump.

Syd now finds himself in a small town, reluctantly shooting a B-movie. While getting drunk in a hotel bar, he forms an almost instant connection with Matt (Benjamin Charles Watson), a young lawyer on the verge of his biggest case yet.

Despite pressure from his representatives to hide his sexuality for the sake of his career, Syd and Matt soon become more than just friends. An intense affair ensues, putting Syd’s personal life and career in jeopardy.

Originally created as a six-episode web series and based on an acclaimed 2014 short film of the same name, I Am Syd Stone has been edited into a stellar feature by director Denis Theriault.

A sexy and thoughtful coming-out romance featuring moving performances from handsome lead actors Travis Nelson and Benjamin Charles Watson, the film offers up a heartfelt exploration of two troubled souls finding comfort in one another and, together, finally learning to live authentically.

Watch the trailer for I Am Syd Stone below. The feature film edit is now available to stream on Dekkoo.

Short Film Spotlight: Utopia

Thomas and Julien, two boys from different social backgrounds, decide to meet in person after first connecting over the internet. Together, the pair embark on a dreamy adventure through the Parisian suburbs.

Lost among architectural projects, they begin an on-going conversation about the concept of utopia, and begin to nourish ideas about what their own personal utopia might look like.

Lead actors Pierre Elliott and Romain Poli deliver tender performances as two romantic young men who form a much-needed connection in this 22-minute short film from director Manfred Rott, originally released in 2012 to great acclaim at queer film festivals around the globe.

Gorgeously shot on 16 millimeter black and white film, Utopia is quietly moving and feels timeless in both vision and theme.

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

A mother and her gay son seek out a better life in the comedy ‘Potato Dreams of America’

Obsessed with old Hollywood movies and concerned for her son’s future in 1980s USSR, Lena becomes a mail-order bride and moves to the United States.

Though she hopes to give her son, Potato, a better life, things veer off course when his burgeoning sexuality and love of New Queer Cinema clash with his new father’s political and religious points of view.

Stylized and deliriously campy, Potato Dreams of America conjures a portrayal of the American dream that is as hopeful and hilarious as it is dizzying.

Featuring a star-studded LGBTQ+ cast – including Lea DeLaria and Jonathan Bennett – this autobiographical crowd-pleaser from writer/director Wes Hurley, a major hit with audiences at film festivals all around the world, is designed to make you laugh and spark some whimsical wonder along the way.

Watch the trailer for Potato Dreams of America below. The film is now available on Dekkoo.

Short Film Spotlight: One Day This Kid

As told by filmmaker Alexander Farah through a deftly composed array of small yet pivotal moments, the 17-minute short One Day This Kid follows a first-generation Afghan-Canadian man as he struggles to come to terms with being gay against the disapproval of his immigrant parents and takes steps toward establishing an identity of his own under his father’s shadow.

Inspired by the work of renowned artist David Wojnarowicz, the film uses gorgeous cinematography and emotional precision to tell the story of one gay boy growing up in a society that rejects him at all costs.

Delicate and poised, yet deeply powerful, this is the kind of heart-wrenching storytelling that should not be missed. Marking Farah as a filmmaker to watch, the film won the Narrative Short Competition at the 2025 South by Southwest Film Festival and has earned great acclaim at some of the world’s most prestigious cinema forums, including TIFF, the AFI Fest, Slamdance, Festival du Nouveau Cinema and many more.

Watch a teaser trailer for One Day This Kid below. The short film is now streaming on Dekkoo.

Alan Cumming is exceptional in the thought-provoking generational drama ‘After Louie’

An award-winning gay drama featuring a knockout lead performance by Alan Cumming, After Louie explores the contradictions of modern gay life and history through Sam, a man desperate to understand how he and his community got to where they are today.

As an AIDS activist and member of ACT UP in the ’80s and ’90s, Sam witnessed the deaths of far too many close friends and lovers. Battle-wounded and struggling with survivor’s guilt, Sam now resents the complacency of his former comrades and derides what he sees as the younger generation’s indifference to the politics of sex and death.

When he meets Braeden, a seductive young man played by Zachary Booth, during a late-night outing at the bar, he quickly is able to lower Sam’s guard. As the pair become increasingly intimate, an intergenerational relationship blossoms between them – one capable of reawakening Sam’s artistic soul and reviving his wilted heart.

Through this unconventional romance, Sam is finally forced to deal with the trauma that informs his past, his present and the pair’s unknown future.

Watch the trailer for After Louie below. The film is now streaming on Dekkoo.

‘20,000 Species of Bees’ tells a heart-wrenching story about gender, sexuality and identity

In a small, sleepy village in the Basque Country, a sculptor named Ane and her three children arrive at her mother Lita’s home for summer vacation. Lita disapproves of her daughter’s frayed marriage, career as an artist and the way she parents her obstinate and mischievous children.

Chief among them is eight-year-old Aitor, nicknamed Coco, after it becomes clear that being referred to by the name Aitor elicits feelings of distress in the child. Born biologically male, neither birth name nor the genderless nickname feel quite right, and Ane’s concern for her child grows as Coco becomes more withdrawn.

The child’s only respite lies in the Basque hills, where Ane’s aunt Lourdes tends to the family’s beekeeping farm. Among the peaceful humming of bees and Lourdes’ open-minded guardianship, Coco slowly begins to confide in family and friends her discomfort in her body, eventually voicing a desire to be treated as a girl.

As Coco explores her own developing identity over the summer, Ane and the rest of her family in turn must learn to accept the child as she is.

From Basque director Estibaliz Urresola Solaguren, this assured debut feature is a wonderfully sensitive work carried by the Berlinale Silver Bear-winning lead performance of newcomer Sofía Otero.

An authentic and heart-wrenching story of transition, 20,000 Species of Bees is a landmark in the cinematic discussion of gender, sexuality and identity.

Watch the trailer for 20,000 Species of Bees below. The film is now streaming on Dekkoo.

Mismatched roommates become unexpected allies in the sly British dramedy ‘Makeup’

When two people are brought together from completely different walks of life, it can make for awkward circumstances, especially when they both have their secrets.

Making his feature debut, writer-director Hugo Andre also stars in the film Makeup as Sacha, an introverted French food critic who travels to London. Moving into a rented room in a house belonging to Dan (Will Masheter), a well-respected stockbroker, they fall into a classic “Odd Couple” dynamic.

As time goes on, Dan attempts to hide his aspirations of becoming a burlesque dancer from those who perceive him as an alpha male. Despite their differences, Sacha and Dan soon become pillars of support in each other’s lives.

A winner of 15 different awards at film festivals around the globe – including ‘Directorial Debut by a Young Film Maker’ at the London International Film Festival – Makeup is a stirring drama about the unlikely friendship that forms between the hidden personalities of two distinct characters.

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

Check out the short works of filmmaker Tristan Scott-Behrends this month on Dekkoo!

This month, we’re shining a much-deserved spotlight on the short film work of auteur writer/director Tristan Scott-Behrends.

His films – funny, eclectic and packed with bold visual style – have been making a splash on the queer film festival circuit since the debut of Curtain Down in 2017. A 25-minute short, he wrote, produced and stars alongside Margaret Cho in this love story from director Emett Casey. The film takes a surreal but tender look at gender, identity and aging as our lead character is forced to choose between art and love.

Only Trumpets, his directorial debut, following an outsider navigating love and sex in the digital age, made it’s world premiere at the 2018 Outfest Film Festival, where it was selected as ‘Best of the Fest.’

Our four-film collection also includes The Man of My Dreams, which follows two gorgeous, magnetic male lovers as they traipse around the streets of New York City enmeshed in a dreamy romance.

Finally, Lilac Lips, Dutchess County, a reimagining of Jean Cocteau’s Orpheus, stars Joey Hardy Gray as nymph-like protagonist, navigating the complexities of relationships in a maze of his own making.

Exploring themes of identity, gender, isolation and sexuality in the most delicious ways possible, Tristan Scott-Behrends is a filmmaker worth keeping an eye on. While he’s currently hard at work developing a script for a feature film version of Only Trumpets, you can now enjoy some of his most stylish and provocative shorts right here on Dekkoo.

‘This is Ballroom’ takes a backstage look at the Brazilian drag and queer performance scene

Conceived in New York during the 1960s, when two Black queens left the white-dominated pageant contests behind to create their own scene, ballroom culture has long been a space of freedom, expression, and transgression.

Some fifty years later, the ballroom scene in Brazil is thriving, with houses across the country teaching the art of shade.

Directed by queer Brazilian artists Juru and Vitã, This Is Ballroom stages a real-life ball in a city warehouse. Riotously soundtracked, the film only pauses for breath to illuminate the lives of its trans-led cast. Away from the glitz of the dance floor, these interviews reveal simmering racial and gender tensions.

Capturing the spirit of a new, emerging generation, This Is Ballroom celebrates this energetic subculture as a bounteous and transformative space for queer people of color.

Watch the trailer for This is Ballroom below. The documentary is now streaming on Dekkoo.

Short Film Spotlight: Never Too Old

Directed by Morgan Martini and written by Rolando Zee, the 17-minute short Never Too Old is a life affirming testament to love

Florio and Jesse (Gregory Niebel and screenwriter Rolando Zee) have lived together as lovers for over 45 years. Florio had expressed a desire to get married once same-sex marriage had been legalized, but Jesse held firm to his decision never to tie the knot.

Jesse’s mind starts to change when the law does, however, and he proposes. A small, intimate wedding follows. In their married life they will, of course, face the challenges that come with old age, but they will do so as a committed couple.

Entering marriage in their eighties, the two men offer up a testament to hope and a statement of courage and love.

Watch the trailer for Never Too Old below. The short film is now streaming on Dekkoo.