Category: Short Film

Short Film Spotlight: Skin to Skin

Frenetically paced and packed with gorgeous visuals, the deceptively titled short film Skin to Skin goes way beneath the surface, examining the unexpected emotional depth that can reveal itself during casual hook-ups.

Based on a conversation with an anonymous individual, credited only as ‘O’, the film uses actors to recreate the intimate moments that can occur just after sex between strangers concludes.

An unseen narrator shares a few stories about encounters with people whose post-coital conversation surprised him. Among them are a man grieving the recent loss of his father, a Brazilian immigrant looking for a new place to call home and a young woman learning to own and appreciate the literal scars of her past.

A subversively moving piece of work, Skin to Skin examines the no-strings-attached, faceless profiles of Grindr in an honest, destigmatized way and shows how casual hook-ups can sometimes lead to unexpectedly poignant connections – and also how, in some situations, it’s easier to reveal your innermost self to a total stranger.

Watch the trailer for Skin to Skin below. The short film is now streaming on Dekkoo.

Short Film Spotlight: Eclipse of a Relationship

Three lead actors bare it all in Eclipse of a Relationship, a sexually-charged 9-minute short (originally titled Eclissi di un rapporto) from Italian writer-director Nino Zeno.

Unfolding largely without dialog, the film follows two men in a difficult relationship. The older, more dominant of the two has invited a third man to join them in the bedroom. Though it certainly spices things up, it also accelerates the inevitable decline of their feelings for one another.

Incredibly sensual and packed with both naked bodies and naked feelings, this poetic, deliberately ambiguous film takes on an eerily voyeuristic quality as the audience is invited to witness incredibly intimate events that no one was ever meant to see.

Watch the trailer for Eclipse of a Relationship below. The short film is now streaming on Dekkoo.

Short Film Spotlight: (Il)legal Asterisk

Are we defined by how we see ourselves or how we’re perceived by the outside world?

An experimental, uniquely philosophical short from director Fabrizio Bancale, the 20-minute film (Il)legal Asterisk (originally titled Asterisco (Il)legale) employs three Italian actors (Bruno Petrosino, Orazio Rotolo Schifone and Mauro Toscanelli) to examine that very question.

Pulling from stories both personal and historical, the film playfully jumps around, introducing different settings and characters whose inherent queerness – and their ability to express themselves – has been either discouraged or outright destroyed by societal forces beyond their control.

Handling heavy topics with a light, charismatic touch, the film explores how expressing oneself, coming out and/or living life according to one’s own choices can cost dearly when the law of the land does not offers adequate protection.

With the fight for true freedom being far from over, (Il)legal Asterisk investigates our shared past while shedding a light on our present.

Watch the trailer for (Il)legal Asterisk below. The short film is now streaming on Dekkoo.

Short Film Spotlight: A Boy’s Dream

A Boy’s Dream is a beautiful, thoughtful, and stylish 30-minute relationship drama from up-and-coming Danish filmmaker Ludvig Christian Poulsen.

Elias has always dreamed of having children and starting a family. In contrast, his boyfriend Christian values their current free-spirited lifestyle – arguing that adopting children will cut into their time and resources to travel, make it difficult to purchase expensive designer furniture, and potentially interfere with their desire for one another.

Elias has managed to suppress his feelings for a long time. Once he takes a new job as a psychologist at a boarding school, however, the dam finally breaks. He realizes that he must come to terms with the fact that he and Christian may never be able to compromise on their separate visions of the future.

Watch the trailer for A Boy’s Dream below. The film is now streaming on Dekkoo.