Category: Short Film

Short Film Spotlight: The Kiss on the Cliff

The early 1980s were a difficult time to be LGBTQ+. AIDS was considered a death sentence, gay people were frequently shunned by their families and bisexual men and women often let their same-sex attractions go unexplored.

Made in 1993, The Kiss on the Cliff is a deeply moving 21-minute short from accomplished director Reid Waterer. The film begins in 1983, in the small town of Rock Springs, Wyoming, with an attempted kiss between best friends Mark and Steve, played by Stephen Wolfe Smith and Tom Tarantini.

Their deep feeling for one another has sent ripples of tension through every aspect of their lives and forced both of them to question whether their desire is worth the risk.

Flashing forward ten years later, the two are reunited. Though they find that their lives have followed very different courses, their relationship still demands some kind of resolution.

Recently restored, The Kiss on the Cliff offers up a unique look at a different era in both gay life and gay indie cinema.

Watch a super short trailer for The Kiss on the Cliff below. The film is now available on Dekkoo.

The Dekkoo Digest 029 – 11/18/22

The Dekkoo Digest is back with three new releases this week (of course!). Check out what Ross has to say about the Dekkoo-original series ‘Adam In Fragments’. It’s available to stream now exclusively on Dekkoo!

Robin Lord Taylor and Tommy Beardmore star in the dramatic short film Skeletons

From award-winning writer, director and actor Adam DeCarlo, Skeletons is a dramatic and deeply emotional new 18-minute short.

Set on one rainy night, the film concerns a man who must confront the pain and trauma of a past relationship when a former lover unexpectedly arrives on his doorstep.

Packed with mood and atmosphere, the film also features bristling performances from the two lead actors, who may be familiar to some viewers. Tommy Beardmore has popped up recently on shows like Chicago PD, Shameless and The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel while Robin Lord Taylor will be instantly recognizable to Batman fans from his long stint playing The Penguin on the beloved series Gotham.

Expertly acted and directed, Skeletons offers up an emotionally charged meditation on grief and asks whether or not we should be willing to forgive those who have hurt us.

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

Short Film Spotlight: Floating

In expertly-made new short film Floating, a Russian astronaut awakens alone on board a space station module after an unfortunate crash. Space debris has left the module severely damaged and any communication with the outside world appears to be severed.

As the astronaut tries to reconnect to the base, strange noises turn his attention to the outside. There are knocks coming from outside the ship. They get closer and closer until a strange character emerges. He’s come to welcome the astronaut with a pie.

Puzzled, scared and believing everything to be a hallucination, the astronaut tries to focus on his communication efforts… but the mysterious man decides to open the door and let himself in.

From director Frankie De Leonardis, Floating, also known as Flotando, shows what a skilled filmmaker can do on a limited budget. Ultimately telling an allegorical story about self-realization and acceptance, this clever sci-fi short packs a surreal comic punch.

Watch a short – and very tense – trailer for Floating below. The full short film is now available on Dekkoo.

Short Film Spotlight: The Distance Between Us and the Sky

The new short film The Distance Between Us and the Sky takes place during a dark night somewhere just outside of Athens as two strangers (played by Ioko Ioannis Kotidis and Nikos Zeginoglou) cross paths at an isolated gas station.

One of these gentlemen is just looking to refuel his motorcycle and be on his way. The other, however, is stranded and looking for some cash so that he can catch a bus back to the Greek capital.

After approaching the biker and asking for help, the man in need offers a series of unique propositions – which soon escalate fantastically. What began as a simple favor becomes a tense and ambiguously erotic power struggle. We, the audience, are never sure whether to be afraid or turned on.

Elegantly constructed and packed with mystery, The Distance Between Us and the Sky is a deceptively simple 9-minute short featuring just two characters and endless possibilities. The film won the Short Film Palme d’Or at the 2019 Cannes Film Festival, with writer-director Vasilis Kekatos becoming the first Greek filmmaker to take home that particular prize. We can’t wait to see what he does next.

You can watch The Distance Between Us and the Sky now on Dekkoo.

Short Film Spotlight: According to Mateo

Exploring a particularly dark side of desire, the new 20-minute short film According to Mateo offers up a moody exploration of the grey area between pleasure and pain.

Mateo and his boyfriend, Marc, arrive home after a night out with Luke, a guy they’ve just met. After an argument, Mateo leaves their apartment and bumps into a mysterious drug dealer named Jon. Mateo convinces Jon to take him to his house – where he discovers that he can’t feel anything that isn’t pain.

Edgy and sexually-explicit, the film was produced and co-directed by Osama Chami, a former production assistant who gained a wealth of movie-making experience working on the films of Pedro Almodovar.

According to Mateo marks Chami’s directorial debut, along with his filmmaking partner Enrique Gimeno Pedros. You can also find their follow-up short, Young Diego, on Dekkoo later this month.

Watch the trailer for According to Mateo below. The film is now available on Dekkoo.