Category: Pride

The queer classic ‘Saturday Night at the Baths’ comes to Dekkoo in a new 4K restoration

Newly restored in 4K, director David Buckley’s landmark excursion into bisexuality, 1970s relationship politics and the historical importance of gay bathhouse culture is celebrated in his 1975 film Saturday Night at the Baths.

When struggling pianist Michael (Robert Aberdeen) lands a job at the legendary Continental Baths in New York City, his wife Tracy (Ellen Sheppard) encourages him – and even emphasizes how special this institution is. Michael, however, struggles with his own homophobia, yet starts developing feelings for his confident and sexually free co-worker Scotti (Don Scotti).

Shot on-location inside the famous Continental Baths and featuring an unforgettable 12-minute scene of the actual entertainment of the time, both musical and erotic alike, Saturday Night at the Baths is a sublime example of the compelling and sensual queer cinema of one of the most groundbreaking periods in gay and bisexual film history.

Watch the trailer for the new restoration of Saturday Night at the Baths below. The film is now streaming on Dekkoo.

Short Film Spotlight: That Dark Day

Fábio (Miguel Filpi) is a young trans man from Sao Paulo who works as a caregiver for the elderly. Mourning the end of a recent love affair, his memories and dreams offer a closer look at his coming-of-age and the dilemmas he faced while coming to understand his gender and sexuality.

Everything starts coming into focus for Fábio when he begins working for Louise (Isabelle Lenoble), an elderly cisgender woman who is living far away from any close friends or family. Slowly dying of a terminal illness, Fábio becomes her rock. As weeks go by, their relationship matures into one of abiding affection and deep understanding.

Living in a polarized society, fraught with political and financial turmoil, the pair begin to rely solely on one another and start learning how to say their goodbye – he to a cherished relationship and the person he used to be; and she to life itself.

From Brazilian writer-director Daniel Guarda, That Dark Day is a profoundly emotional 29-minute short film that will linger with you long after the credits roll.

Celebrated at screenings around the world, the film won the ‘Silver Rabbit Award,’ the Audience Choice for Best Brazilian Short Film, at MixBrasil Festival of Diversity Culture when it debuted in 2022.

Watch the trailer for That Dark Day below. The short film is now streaming on Dekkoo.

‘Queercore: How to Punk a Revolution’ examines the 1980s LGBTQ+ punk scene

Started in the 1980s as a fabricated movement intended to ‘punk’ the punk scene, Queercore quickly became a real-life cultural community of LGBTQ music and movie-making revolutionaries.

With this frank and fascinating feature-length documentary, director Yony Leyser (the filmmaker behind Chokehole, Desire Will Set You Free and William S. Burroughs: A Man Within) chronicles the start of the pseudo-movement through to the widespread rise of pop artists who used queer identity to push back against gay assimilation and homophobic punk culture.

Queercore: How to Punk a Revolution is just what the title suggests: a ‘how-to-do-it’ guide for the next generation of queer radicals. The extensive participant list includes Bruce LaBruce, G.B. Jones, Genesis Breyer P-Orridge, John Waters, Justin Vivian Bond, Lynn Breedlove, Silas Howard, Pansy Division, Penny Arcade, Kathleen Hanna, Kim Gordon, Deke Elash, Tom Jennings, Team Dresch and many, many more.

Watch the trailer for Queercore: How to Punk a Revolution below. The documentary is now streaming on Dekkoo.

Short Film Spotlight: Havana

Living in Cuba in the 1970s, immigration officer Antonio (Ifeanyi Dike Jr.) earns money on the side by selling illegal visas at exorbitant prices. And that’s not his only secret. He’s also hiding his sexuality.

His hush-hush lifestyle is starting to get the better of him. Afraid of the outside world, he spends most of his time confined within the walls of his small Havana apartment. His only solace comes in the form of visits from Jian (Shaofei Chen), his secret boyfriend. But when Jian arrives one night looking for an illegal visa of his own, and an opportunity to start a new life, it becomes clear that Antonio is not the only person keeping secrets.

An exceptionally well-made short film from accomplished Hollywood production manager Faith Strongheart, Havana uses top-notch talent to tell a bittersweet story about the forbidden queer love and two men’s desperate longing for escape from an unforgiving time and place.

Watch a short clip from Havana below. The film is now streaming on Dekkoo.

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.