Category: Short Film

Short Film Spotlight: Lightning Bugs in a Jar

From co-directors Sara Wolkowitz and Robert Ian Simpson, the 19-minute short film Lightning Bugs in a Jar opens with a child’s car seat flying through the air – never a good sign. Rest assured, no babies are put in harm’s way during the film, but there’s certainly some lingering childhood trauma.

When a mother and son with a caustic history reunite to pack-up their old house, sparks fly as long-buried secrets are revealed… and it might fall upon the shoulders of the son’s boyfriend to help heal old wounds.

Thoughtfully written, packed with both humor and emotion and beautifully performed by lead actors Ethan Slater, Devin McDuffee and Betsy Aidem, Lightning Bugs in a Jar perfectly captures what it feels like to play referee for two people in a volatile relationship.

In other words, it will tear you apart like an old car seat thrown from a second-story window.

Watch a short trailer for Lightning Bugs in a Jar below. The full short film is now streaming on Dekkoo.

Short Film Spotlight: Good Night

When Aram (Yianni Katsifas), a young Armenian man who only recently came out of the closet, goes out on a first date with the much more confident and experienced Jason (Robert Walker Jeffery), he must decide how far he’s willing to go in order to make sure they both have a good time.

When they go back to Aram’s place, his nervousness and uncertainty about what he wants leads to some majorly awkward – and boldly sexually-explicit – tension in bed. Taking place almost in real time, Good Night is a deeply unabashed 10-minute short about a sexual encounter that never quite gels.

Gorgeously shot in crisp black and white and featuring committed performances from lead actors Katsifas and Jeffrey, the film captures how uncomfortable it can be to hook up with someone when you’re not totally on the same page – especially when the whole experience is new to you.

Good Night is now available on Dekkoo.

Now Available: Dekkoo’s Seductive Shorts Collection

Dekkoo has a wealth of short films on offer from all around the globe – inventive and inspiring works of queer cinematic expression you won’t find anywhere else!

With such a vast library, it can be hard to know where to dive in. We’re sending you straight into the deep end with this collection of our most Seductive Shorts!

Youthful regrets, raunchy online encounters and the intersection between queerness and age are explored in the experimental shorts camchat and As I Sat in My Car. Sparks fly as men come together for a little romance in Rubber Dolphin, Foreign Lovers and Is This a Date. Steamy relationships from the past haunt the present in both Just Me and Let’s Meet Again at the End of the World.

Max follows a recent divorcee who hires a male escort. Open Relationship sees a couple considering exactly what the title suggests. Plum follows a fleeting encounter between two hot young men with opposing views on love. And finally His Hands and Fish Tank both explore strange hook-ups that have the potential to turn dangerous… or dangerously sexy.

Catch up on all the steamy action with our Seductive Shorts collection – available now on Dekkoo!

Short Film Spotlight: Nanoblood

From writer Nick Roth and director Lindsay Haun, Nanoblood is a short film that tosses comedy, neo-noir, horror and sci-fi all into the blender at once, telling the story of three young lovers and the bots that tear them apart.

Not for the squeamish (expect lots of blood and some thrillingly Cronenberg-influenced body horror), this 38-minute film follows Gary (Anthony Rutowicz), a painter recently out of a day job, and his wife Lisa (Amanda Fuller), a graduate student in nanobiology.

Lisa’s funding is contingent on her participation in an experimental trial to replace her blood cells with microscopic, artificially intelligent robots. When the pair decide to make some extra cash by renting Gary’s painting studio out to Toby (Gabriel Miller), a mysterious visiting scholar also participating in Lisa’s clinical trial, their bodies begin to change in unexpected ways… and sexual desire begins to emerge in unexpected places.

Ambitious, provocative, sexually-frank and surprisingly timely, Nanoblood tells a large, inventive sci-fi story on an intimate scale.

Watch the trailer for Nanoblood below. The full short film is available now on Dekkoo.

Short Film Spotlight: Our Way Back

An intense 26-minute thriller from Israeli director Moshe Rosenthal, Our Way Back follows two secret lovers who find themselves in a life-or-death situation.

Lior Ashkenazi stars as Uri, a 50-year-old family man in a secret romantic relationship with the much-younger Oded, played by Shachar Netz.

Telling his wife that he’s going away for a business conference, Uri whisks Oded away to the desert, where the two can express their love for one another freely, away from the prying eyes of their small, close-knit community.

When Oded suffers a serious accident, it puts not only their affair, but his very life in jeopardy. Now Uri is faced with a major decision. He can call for help and risk being exposed, or let go of the man he loves in the most heartless way possible.

Our Way Back is now available on Dekkoo.