Category: Short Film

Short Film Spotlight: Bettas

A seemingly trivial couple’s fight turns unexpectedly violent in Bettas, a frenzied and deliberately over-the-top short thriller from director Benjamin-Shalom Rodriguez.

Lovers Frank and David (Jose Diaz-Oldenburg and Nick Ley) are showering together in a bathroom that isn’t their own. They’re away from home celebrating both Frank’s birthday and the wedding of his best friend.

David is harboring some resentments at the start of the film. Not only is he salty about having paid for the trip, but he’s not happy that Frank coerced him into having sex by the public pool of their hotel.

After a particular song comes on and Frank declines David’s invitation to dance, all hell breaks loose – and their simmering relationship troubles come to the fore in a shockingly bloody crescendo.

Uncomfortably funny and made with a brisk, kinetic energy, Bettas is a deliciously twisted “anti-romance.” We recommend watching it on a date night with your significant other – if only as a cautionary tale about anger management.

Check out the poster for Bettas below. The full short film is now streaming on Dekkoo.

Oscar nominee Colman Domingo stars in the profoundly moving 30-minute drama ‘North Star’

Colman Domingo, Malcolm Gets, Laura Innes and Kevin Bacon make up the primary cast of this astounding 30-minute short film that challenges the meanings of freedom, faith and family.

A winner of countless awards at film festivals all around the globe, North Star is easily one of the most acclaimed gay short films ever made.

Domingo, who also produced the film, stars as James, a rural rancher who makes incredible sacrifices to care for his dying husband – all while his zealot sister-in-law attempts to impose her will and a pair of televangelists peddle shame, fear, and division as the cornerstones of faith.

A deeply personal film by writer-director P.J. Palmer, based on his own experiences of being in same-gender, multi-cultural relationships, North Star is a profoundly emotional drama that will linger with you love after the credits roll.

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

Short Film Spotlight: Slashr

Every Grindr user’s worst fears are brought thrillingly to life in writer-director Amir Moini’s Slashr.

Nathan Mohebbi stars in this 12-minute horror short as Ashkan, an attractive young man taking a solo trip to the mountains of Big Bear. Looking to clear his head in the aftermath of a breakup, he rents an isolated cabin with lots of opportunity for snowy sightseeing.

Encouraged by his best friend Ricky to engage in some frisky rebound sex, he also downloads a Grindr-inspired gay hookup app called Torso.

Though he’s not emotionally ready to throw caution to the wind and hop into bed with a stranger, he cruises the app and starts a conversation with a faceless admirer… whose persistence becomes alarming and whose physical distance, as listed on the app, keeps getting closer… and closer… and closer.

Heavy on suspense and spooky atmosphere, Slashr marks Moini as a director to watch. You could easily imagine him using this film as the opening of a feature-length horror flick – something in the vein of Scream, but with a decidedly queer point of view.

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

Short Film Spotlight: Pipes

Fast-paced and visually inventive, Pipes, an impressively animated black and white short from co-directors Jessica Meier, Kilian Feusi and Sujanth Ravichandran, is packed with deliciously funny incident.

The 4-minute, dialog-free film follows an anthropomorphic cartoon bear who works as a plumber and is tasked with fixing the pipes at a kinky gay nightclub.

Shocked at the hedonistic display of gay pleasure on the dance floor, a fear of the unknown soon takes him over. His mind wanders down a kaleidoscopic rabbit hole of gay panic where pipes become body parts and body parts become pipes before he comes to his senses and realizes that there was never anything to be afraid of in the first place.

Cleverly-crafted, the film builds a bizarre cartoon world you won’t soon forget. If you’re never seen an animated alien do poppers before, you’re in for a weirdly specific treat!

Check out the poster for Pipes below. The short film is now streaming on Dekkoo. And, despite the cuddly characters and the positive message, be warned that this film is for grown-up viewers only.

Short Film Spotlight: Rough Trade

Drew Lint, the writer-director behind the sexually-charged 2018 queer thriller M/M, first made a splash on the international film festival scene back in 2014 with this dialog-free 17-minute mind-bender.

The visually inventive Rough Trade stars Matt O’Connor as a nameless sex-worker credited only as ‘The Stud.’ With long hair and angelic beauty, he spends his nights cruising neon-lit streets looking for potential clients.

When he’s picked up by a mysterious man with a fetish for branding, he realizes that he’s about to embark on a particularly challenging date. Welcomed into a cult-like community full of similarly young and handsome leather-clad men, he must decide whether to go back to the streets or start a whole new life within this potentially dangerous underworld.

Evoking the films of David Lynch, Lint leaves much to the viewer’s imagination, but teases us with just enough provocative imagery to keep our eyes glued to the screen.

Watch a short teaser for Rough Trade below. The full short film is now available on Dekkoo.

Short Film Spotlight: A Bela é Poc

An intense short film from Brazilian writer-director Eric Lima and co-writer/star Taciano Soares, A Bela é Poc follows a proudly queer young man who is stuck living within a harsh environment that threatens his happiness at every turn.

Belinho (Soares), a devoted Francophile, dreams of a glamorous life on the stage, but his day-to-day reality is something quite different. Working to support his ailing, homophobic father, he’s constantly dodging threats of violence from the people in his community.

Nonetheless, with support from Mara, his best friend and biggest fan (Isabela Catao in a scene-stealing performance), he soldiers on, refusing to suppress himself for the closed-minded comfort of those around him.

But when he’s served a one-two punch of life-altering tragedies, Belinho risks drifting off into his Edith Piaf-inspired fantasy world for good.

With high energy performances, exceptional camera work and one particularly electric homage to My Own Private Idaho, A Bela é Poc offers up a hard-hitting examination of one man’s admirable resilience in the face of overwhelming adversity.

Check out the poster for A Bela é Poc below. The short film is now streaming on Dekkoo.