Category: Pride

A father goes to great lengths to protect his son in the gripping drama ‘You’ll Never Be Alone’

Accomplished Chilean actor Sergio Hernández stars in You’ll Never Be Alone as Juan, the quiet, introverted manager of a mannequin factory who is hoping to be made partner after 25 years of devoted service.

At home, his 18-year-old son, Pablo (Andrew Bargsted), has dreams of stardom, studying dance at a respected art school. In addition to teaching neighborhood children choreographed dance numbers and clubbing with his best girlfriend on the weekends, Pablo’s life revolves around performing, auditioning and occasionally sneaking around to sleep with another boy from the neighborhood.

While Pablo and his widowed, hard-working dad don’t have a whole lot in common, neither seems to let that get in the way of caring for each other. Everything changes, however, when Pablo is brutally attacked by a group of homophobic kids.

With legal action and medical insurance proving costly, Juan makes the desperate decision to start seeking out his own form of justice.

Based on true events, this impressive debut film from musician Alex Anwandter tells a gripping story of betrayal and redemption. You’ll Never Be Alone is a stirring testament to a father’s love and a powerful treatise on Chile’s generational divide.

Watch the trailer for You’ll Never Be Alone below. The film is now streaming on Dekkoo.

Short Film Spotlight: Two-Headed Calves

The 29-minute short Two-Headed Calves follows bride and groom Johannes and Marie (Andreas Hammer and Jennifer Sabel).

At the beginning of the film, a torrential downpour breaks out in the middle of their outdoor wedding reception… and that turns out to be the least of their problems.

The biggest issue is that Johannes has been keeping a secret from Marie for the entirety of their relationship. He’s gay. He always has been, and he always will be. But that hasn’t stopped his meddling, conservative parents from trying to fix what they perceive as a problem.

Working with an unorthodox personal conversion therapist, Johannes momentarily believes he has overcome his own sexuality and can bring happiness to every disapproving person in his life – even if it comes at the cost of his own.

But when everything that can go wrong does go wrong during the wedding, it seems like a sign that he needs to start being open and honest – especially with his new bride.

Using a found footage aesthetic, German director Benjamin Kramme crafts a painfully funny family comedy that also brilliantly skewers the entire notion of conversion therapy.

Watch the trailer for Two-Headed Calves below. The short film is now streaming on Dekkoo.

John Benjamin Hickey stars in beloved filmmaker Eytan Fox’s cross-cultural romance ‘Sublet’

Tony Award-winning theatre veteran John Benjamin Hickey stars in Sublet as Michael, a travel columnist for The New York Times who reluctantly goes on a trip to Tel Aviv to write an article after suffering a tragedy.

Leaving behind some unresolved relationship troubles with his husband, Michael just wants to do his research and fly back home as soon as possible. But when he sublets an apartment from Tomer, an incredibly attractive young film student played by newcomer Niv Nissim, he suddenly finds himself drawn into the life of the city.

The intense bond he forms with this casually seductive younger man ends up transforming both their lives in unexpected ways.

The newest feature from acclaimed Israeli filmmaker Eytan Fox, the writer-director behind Walk on Water and Yossi and Jagger, Sublet is sexy, charming, thought-provoking and ultimately life-affirming.

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

Two lovers face a difficult decision in the romantic drama ‘A Place to Be’

Writer-director Tadeo Garcia followed up his 2004 debut feature On the Downlow with A Place to Be, a powerful love story set against the backdrop of the U.S. immigration system.

Both Abel (Nelson A. Rodriguez), who works in Chicago in social services, and Diego (Andrew L. Saenz), an auto mechanic, have waited a long time to fall in love with the right person.

After several chance meetings, the two hook up and quickly fall for one another. But Diego has been hiding a secret: he’s an undocumented immigrant and his repeated attempts to attain citizenship have led nowhere.

When word reaches him that his mother is dying, Diego must decide whether or not to risk a trip back to Mexico, knowing he will jeopardize his chances of returning to America… and building a future with Abel. Can their love survive this dangerous decision?

Emotional and poignant, A Place to Be tells a moving story about the power of love during uncertain times.

Check out the poster for A Place to Be below. The film is now streaming on Dekkoo.

Andrea Riseborough and Demi Moore star in the wild queer pastiche ‘Please Baby Please’

Andrea Riseborough, Harry Melling and Demi Moore star in this neon-lit fantasia about newlyweds who find themselves on diverging sexual journeys.

A wildly inventive and wickedly funny 1950s pastiche from acclaimed filmmaker Amanda Kramer, Please Baby Please follows Arthur and Suze, two seemingly straight arrows who live an outwardly traditional lifestyle as the Lower East Side’s most bohemian Eisenhower-era couple.

The pair find their cage rattled when they witness a murder and become the new targets of a gang of sadistic, leather-clad greasers known as ‘The Young Gents.’ Their initial thrust of fear soon evolves, arousing previously unsuspected emotions and feelings of sexuality in both of the young lovers.

This sudden exposure to flamboyant masculinity unlocks the realization that Suze is an aspiring leather daddy who mistook herself for a housewife. Meanwhile, the perpetually sensitive Arthur’s obsessive gender trouble goes sideways when ‘Young Gent’ Teddy sparks his dormant queer desires.

Please Baby Please presents a full spectrum of underground fetishism and seductive musical asides, along with delicious cameos from Karl Glusman and Cole Escola. Visionary filmmaker Amanda Kramer pegs the hetero hell-scape of the 1950s in a witty, syncopated riff that plays like a high camp emission from your wildest dreams – bathed in silk, sweat and bisexual lighting!

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

A supernatural intervention brings closure to a complicated love affair in the Bollywood melodrama ‘Love is Love’

Taking inspiration from Ghost, the wildly campy Indian melodrama Love is Love tells the story of a complicated relationship that ended far too soon.

Jumping around in time, the film follows the romantic relationship that develops between childhood friends Aryan and Ashley (Kapil Kaustubh Sharma and Yuvraaj Parashar).

Though it took them a while to come to terms with their feelings – and caused much gossip within their tightknit circle of friends – the pair found their way into one another’s open arms.

When Ashley dies unexpectedly, it shakes Aryan to his very core. After two failed suicide attempts, an otherworldly intervention ensues. Ashley, aided by an older female sex worker with psychic abilities, reaches out to Aryan from beyond the grave in an effort to bring perspective and closure to their tragic love affair.

Originally created as part of a trilogy and re-edited for this U.S. release, Love is Love stirred up controversy in India as one of few Bollywood films to prominently feature gay characters and themes.

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

Short Film Spotlight: The Letter Men

Between the years 1938 and 1941, a British man named Gordon Bowsher wrote over 200 love letters to his sweetheart, Gilbert Bradley, while he was off in combat during World War II.

Surviving records of queer relationships from that time period are rare. Presumably, most letters would have been destroyed out of fear of discovery. But luckily, Gordon’s letters have survived. Gilbert kept them safe until his death in 2007 – and they were eventually discovered by museum curators in 2015.

Now, more than 80 years after they were first written, the letters represent the largest known collection of LGBTQ+ love notes from the era. With exceptional production values and a fleet 8-minute runtime, director Andy Vallentine manages to craft an epic depiction of one gay love story that was almost lost to time.

Using Gordon’s own words, The Letter Men transports us back to that era, showing us not only the battlefields and the air raid shelters, but the deepest recesses of the human heart.

Featuring truly swoon-worthy lead performances from actors Matthew Postlethwaite and Garrett Clayton, the film offers a unique window into the untold true story of two gay men who were desperately in love, torn apart by war and unknowingly fated to live on in queer history.

Watch a short trailer for The Letter Men below. The film is now streaming on Dekkoo.

Short Film Spotlight: Family Affair

From writer-producer Ernest Anemone and director Julio Dowansingh, Family Affair is a heartwarming 15-minute queer comedy short about the secrets we keep, the friendships we make and, as the title would suggest, the families we’re born into.

Bear D’Angelo stars as Tanner, a high school senior who seems to have everything going for him. He’s smart, he’s athletic and he’s popular… but there’s something – or rather someone – taking up his time lately. And Tanner feels that, at all costs, he must keep it a secret from his mother.

We don’t want to give away any more of the plot because there are some delightful surprises in store for viewers who aren’t sure where the story is going.

Created by a cast and crew mostly consisting of queer and BIPOC creatives, Family Affair tells an uplifting story about one mother-son relationship while aiming to normalize and destigmatize queer identities across the board.

Watch a short teaser trailer for Family Affair below. The film is now streaming on Dekkoo.

The director of ‘Were the World Mine’ returns with the electrifying new musical ‘Glitter & Doom’

In a fantastical summer romance set to the iconic hits of the Grammy Award-winning, trailblazing Indigo Girls, Glitter & Doom follows the love-at-first-sight connection between carefree circus performer Glitter (Alex Diaz) and struggling musician Doom (Alan Cammish).

An undeniable spark throws the pair into a summer of camping trips, late-night conversations and innovative song-and-dance numbers – until the real world comes calling for them.

Their relationship is put to the test as Doom confronts the realities of finding success in the music industry and Glitter has an opportunity to run away to Paris as a circus performer.

Glitter and Doom soon find themselves struggling to make sense of their whirlwind summer while staying true to themselves and pursuing their dreams.

Directed by beloved Were the World Mine filmmaker Tom Gustafson and punctuated by a star-studded supporting cast – including Lea DeLaria, Tig Notaro, “Drag Race” alum Peppermint, Ming-Na Wen, Missi Pyle and Indigo Girls Amy Ray and Emily Saliers themselves – Glitter & Doom is a creatively ambitious, visually stunning queer musical about the power of love – and, of course, the “Power of Two.”

Watch the trailer for Glitter & Doom below. The film is now streaming on Dekkoo.

‘The Radical’ introduces Muhsin Hendricks, the world’s first openly gay Imam

Four years in the making, The Radical offers up an intimate portrait of Muhsin Hendricks, a Capetonian former dress designer who came out in 1996 and became the world’s first openly gay Imam.

Today, even under the threat of death, he leads a devoted group of queer Muslims through the Al-Ghurbaah Foundation, an organization that supports the LGBTQ+ community and runs various educational and empowerment programs that help Muslims reconcile their sexuality with their faith.

Filmmaker Richard Finn Gregory follows Hendricks to East Africa to film his work with queer Muslim activists in the countries where their very identity is still outlawed.

The film provides first-person accounts of growing up queer as a South African Muslim in a society caught between the liberalism of its constitution and the conservativeness of its cultures and history, chronicling individual journeys to queer acceptance and the struggle for LGBTQ+ rights across the entire continent of Africa.

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