Category: Short Film

Director Jared Watmuff’s award winning short film ‘Hey You’ packs a shocking and tragic punch

In April of 2017, over 100 different people were reportedly abducted, tortured and murdered by authorities in Chechnya as part of a heinous crackdown against the LGBTQ+ community. Some of these people were directly targeted and entrapped using dating apps. Ongoing prosecutions, mysterious disappearances and additional waves of attacks continued soon after.

Hey You, a shocking, but deeply important 4-minute short film from writer-director Jared Watmuff, explores this topic head-on.

At the start of Hey You, it seems that we’re watching an ordinary connection transpire between two men on Grindr. Soon enough, however, we realize that we’re seeing the experiences of two men from very different places – and how their simple pursuit of companionship plays out in wildly divergent ways.

A winner of numerous awards at film festivals around the globe, Hey You exposes how, with the convenience of social media and dating apps, our hard-fought rights and freedoms can be taken for granted – and how, for many others, the fight for those freedoms is far from over.

We do feel the need to warn you that the film contains scenes and imagery that most viewers will – and should – find deeply disturbing. This film does not shy away from the tragic reality of the situation.

Watch a short trailer for Hey You below. The full short film is now available on Dekkoo.

Short Film Spotlight: The Things You Think I’m Thinking

An award-winning short film from director Sherren Lee, The Things You Think I’m Thinking stars Station Eleven regular Prince Amponsah as Sean, a gay man struggling with emotional insecurities and body image issues as he embarks on his first date with another man since being badly scarred and losing both his arms in a house fire.

Though Sean and his new date Caleb (played by Jesse LaVercombe, the film’s screenwriter) hit it off while flirting at the bar, things get tense when they return to Sean’s apartment and Caleb tries to take their budding relationship into the bedroom.

The two soon realize that they need to communicate honestly – and not, like on so many dates before, assume what one another are thinking.

LaVercombe wrote this 14-minute short as a tribute to Amponsah. An accomplished Canadian stage actor, The Things You Think I’m Thinking marked his first film role after returning to the stage in 2016, following his own real-life injuries in a 2012 apartment fire.

The film went on to win multiple awards – including the Jury Prize for Best International Short Film at Outfest in 2018, a Special Jury Prize at the 2018 Canadian Film Festival and the award for Best Canadian Short Film at the 2018 Inside Out Film and Video Festival.

Watch a short teaser clip from The Things You Think I’m Thinking below. The film is now streaming on Dekkoo.

Short Film Spotlight: Campfire

There are thirty-some LGBTQ campgrounds in America – many of which started in the 1980s at the height of the AIDS epidemic as refuges for urban gay men and as meeting places for rural (often closeted) men from conservative areas.

In the summer of 2022, author, filmmaker and former New York Times journalist Austin Bunn decided to make a documentary about Hillside, one of the oldest gay campgrounds, located in the mountains of Pennsylvania.

After weeks of interviews, he found that some men were only willing to talk off the record. In an effort to capture their transformational experiences, he created a composite character from their stories and filmed Campfire, a narrative/documentary hybrid.

This award-winning film follows a married dairy farmer who travels to a gay campground in rural Northeast Pennsylvania in search of the man he fell in love with 30 years earlier. Along his journey, he discovers that the past is not done with him yet.

Unfolding in the real location, during one weekend, this inventive and deeply poignant film features six permanent residents of Hillside along with two professional actors and dozens of actual campers – who just happened to be there at the right time – serving as extras.

Check out the poster for Campfire below. A hit with audiences at film festivals all over the country, this unique short film is now available on Dekkoo.

Short Film Spotlight: Private Photos

Looking to add a little spice to their stagnant sex life, young partners Matheus and Rafa (Vinicius Neri and Lucas Galvino) decide to invite a third person into their bedroom. But when Felipe (Antonio Miano) arrives at their apartment, they seem to get more than they bargained for.

Rafa, a medical student, and Matheus, an architect, seem to live a pretty buttoned-up day-to-day existence. Felipe, who isn’t afraid to demand what he wants, has a mischievous, devil-may-care attitude that excites Rafa, but clashes with Matheus’s mild manner.

When Felipe lights up a joint and starts dancing provocatively for the pair, they end up falling into bed, but it quickly becomes clear that two of the participants are having a lot more fun than the third.

The night ends up taking an unexpected turn. Though they were seeking sexual exploration, the couple end up exploring their emotions and their satisfaction with one another, leading to a surprising ‘make-it-or-break-it’ moment.

Beautifully directed by Brazilian filmmaker Marcelo Grabowsky and featuring bold performances from all three lead actors, Private Photos is a sexually-frank 20-minute short about a gay couple who are starting to learn what they really want when it comes to life, love and lust.

Watch a short teaser trailer for Private Photos below. The film is now streaming on Dekkoo.

Short Film Spotlight: Chasin’

An 8-minute Australian short from director Lee Matthews and screenwriter Ben Chuah, Chasin’ observes an impromptu meeting between a Gen-X daddy and a Gen-Z twink.

On a hot summer night, the pair meet up in a public park after flirting on Scruff. The differences between them are immediately apparent.

But after the two jump the fence of a nearby recreation center and the older man injures his ankle, the pair of would-be lovers share in a moment of vulnerability and unexpected connection.

Suddenly it seems like this may be more than just a casual hook-up.

Featuring charming performances from lead actors Dushan Philips and Jay De Leon, Chasin’ offers up a sexy and kind-hearted meet-cute that may mark the start of a lasting relationship.

Check out the poster for Chasin’ below. The short film is now streaming on Dekkoo.

Short Film Spotlight: The Word

A father and son (Karim Ashtari and Ali Ashrafiju) take to the road for a driving lesson. It’s a scenario that will be familiar to many, but in Iranian writer-director Hadi Khanmohammadi’s The Word, the roles are reversed.

In this intriguing 15-minute short, it’s the son who is teaching his aging father how to drive. But as this potential bonding moment plays out, an increasingly tense and difficult conversation ensues.

As the two men begin to air their grievances with one another, we get a strong sense of the abuse and patriarchal entitlement the son has had to endure. The father also wants to know why his son shies away from the topic of marriage… and spends so much time with his closest male ‘friend.’

Though it doesn’t offer any easy answers, The Word has a lot to say about traditional gender norms in Iran. It also adeptly captures the feeling of having to censor yourself in the presence of a closed-minded parent. Unfortunately, sometimes it really is impossible to teach an old dog new tricks.

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