New This Week – 1/1/21

In this affecting, bittersweet comedy, a rising young filmmaker is thrown into emotional turmoil by a burgeoning romance and the upcoming premiere of his second feature. ‘Benjamin’ is available to stream now on Dekkoo!

Love is complicated; so is betrayal. There are many difficult questions to ask yourself in your soul’s darkest hour. But there is only one simple rule to follow when you have finally decided to get rid of your wife’s lover: make sure you find a hitman who is not the chatty kind. Stream ‘By the End of the Week’ now on Dekkoo!

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Coming next week: When there’s nowhere left to hide, the music will find you.

Short Film Spotlight: Shadow Animals

In the new Swedish short film Shadow Animals, a young girl (Ayla Turin) follows her parents to a party where she experiences assorted grown-up rituals. As the evening progresses she finds the adults’ behavior increasingly strange. Everyone tries to fit in, but not everyone succeeds.

Skillfully mixing kitchen-sink social drama with over-the-top surrealism, Shadow Animals manages to pinpoint the illogical adult world that makes childhood something deeply serious.

Writer-director Jerry Carlsson has created a fascinatingly weird dance-based drama about the discovery of human behavior.

Watch the trailer for Shadow Animals below to get a sense of what the film has up its sleeve. It’s now available on Dekkoo.

New This Week – 12/25/20

A ’70s-set homoerotic prison drama based on a low-circulated pulp novel, tracking the sexual, often-violent and eventually murderous experiences of 20-something narcissist Jaime. ‘The Prince’ is available to stream now on Dekkoo!

A young girl follows her two dads to a party where she experiences assorted grown-up rituals. As the evening progresses she finds the adults’ behavior increasingly strange. Everyone tries to fit in, but not everyone succeeds. Watch ‘Shadow Animals’ now on Dekkoo!

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Coming next week: Inspired by first-time feature filmmaker Simon Amstell’s own experiences, this film is a heartfelt ode to the search for human connection.

New This Week – 12/18/20

Handsome, twenty-something, Manuel, travels back to his hometown with an ulterior motive. He’s going to ask his parents for money to move to Denmark with his super-hot boyfriend. Soon after arriving, however, things start to get complicated. ‘A Skeleton in the Closet’ is available to stream exclusively on Dekkoo!

Nagisa and Shun fell in love during their high school days in Japan. Though he’s now a family man living in Australia, Nagisa has never let the memory of his first romance fade. When he finally returns to Japan, he and Shun reconnect, after thirteen years apart, to see if their love story deserves a new chapter. Stream ‘His’ now on Dekkoo!

Eric, who has early-onset dementia, arrives home from hospital after overcoming COVID-19 to discover his partner is still in hospital, uncertain of his future. Due to the lockdown restrictions, Eric is unable to visit his partner and relies on Benny, his carer to help him through his confusion. ‘Where’s Steve?’ is available to stream now on Dekkoo.

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Coming next week: An explosive homoerotic drama set in a repressive 1970s Chilean prison.

Short Film Spotlight: Irish Goodbye

Two strangers from opposite ends of the earth meet in the City of Angels and embark upon an intense examination of trust, abandonment, tragedy and privilege in the new eighteen-minute short film Irish Goodbye.

Two strangers: a young, conflicted but devout Muslim refugee from Syria named Nizar and his night out with a quixotic Irishman, Eric. Along the way they will confront issues of trust, abandonment, tragedy, and privilege. The consequences of their adventure will haunt both men for long after the night is over.

Nizar (Abubakr Ali) is a young, conflicted but devout Muslim refugee from Syria. When he spends one unusually intimate night out with Eric (Jack Lowe), it quickly becomes clear that the consequences of their adventure will haunt both men for long after the sun has risen the following morning.

An official selection at countless LGBTQ+ film festivals, Irish Goodbye is the newest short film from prolific writer-actor-director-producer Adetokumboh M’Cormack. Born in Sierra Leone, West Africa, M’Cormack has been in the international entertainment industry for over 20 years. He has appeared in blockbuster Hollywood films like Captain America: Winter Soldier and Blood Diamond. His extensive television credits include appearances in TV shows like “Lost” and “NCIS” and has voiced characters like Nelson Mandela in True TV’s “Adam Ruins Everything,” among many other projects both big and small.

Watch the trailer for Irish Goodbye below. The film is available now on Dekkoo.

Money and paranoia thwart a gay couple’s plans in the Dekkoo Original Short Jackplot

Directed with the colorful flair of a Tales from the Crypt-esque morality tale by UK filmmaker Marco De Luca, the new Dekkoo Original Short Film Jackplot shows what happens when money and paranoia conspire to thwart the best laid plans of a bickering couple.

Two handsome twenty-somethings, Kevin (Jack Parr) and Jay (Adam Redmore), drive home from the races after having won the jackpot, excited about their newfound fortune. The newlyweds fantasize about how to spend their big bag of cash, but disagreement turns into bitterness when Jay claims ownership of the win and prize.

As tensions mount and tempers rise, distraction becomes inevitable and the ride home turns into a race towards tragedy from which fate will ensure no one benefits from the windfall.

Watch the trailer for Jackplot below. The film is available now exclusively on Dekkoo.

New This Week – 12/11/20

Second-generation Irani-German Parvis works at a refugee shelter where he meets brother and sister Irani refugees and develops a tenuous romance with Amon as his friends attempt refugee status. ‘No Hard Feelings’ is available to stream now on Dekkoo!

Strangers from opposite ends of the earth: Nizar, a Syrian refugee and Eric an Irish tourist, meet in the City of Angels and embark on a journey of trust, abandonment, tragedy and privilege. Stream ‘Irish Goodbye’ now on Dekkoo!

Marcos lands in New York only to find out his layover flight to San Francisco has been canceled. Having nowhere to go, he ends up in his friend’s apartment with a complete stranger: Alan. ‘A Stormy Night’ is available now on Dekkoo!

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Coming next week: Yet ANOTHER new release gay film comes to Dekkoo! You’re welcome!

Short Film Spotlight: Black Hat

At first blush, Shmuel (Adam Silver) is a pious Hasidic man leading a fairly simple life. By day he dutifully prays at the local synagogue and manages a busy dry cleaner. But when his wife and daughters leave town for a few days, Shmuel will step out of his simple daily life and into a more complex world lit by the night. When he misplaces his black hat along the way, Shmuel’s two lives will interconnect in a way he never expected.

The 15-minute short drama Black Hat follows twenty-four hours in the life of one Hasidic man that must wrestle with his own repressed identity. Through Shmuel’s story, writer Phillip Guttmann and director Sarah Smith raise the notion that these often mysterious and misunderstood religious individuals, typically only seen by the outside world on streets covered by hats and sheitels, are perhaps more complex – more like us – than we previously imagined.

Black Hat is “a story about loneliness and the feeling of being trapped between two worlds,” said director Smith. “Ultimately, this is a character study of a man searching for his place in the world, and our artistic approach will aim to support this main theme.”

Watch the trailer for Black Hat below. The film is available now on Dekkoo.

New This Week – 12/4/20

A lucrative win at the races for newlyweds Kevin and Jay turns into a perilous car ride home when Jay claims ownership of the prize and has a very different idea of how to spend the cash to Kevin. Dekkoo Films presents the original short film, ‘Jackplot.’

In Manhattan, film-maker Erik bonds with closeted lawyer Paul after a fling. As their relationship becomes one fueled by highs, lows, and dysfunctional patterns, Erik struggles to negotiate his own boundaries while being true to himself. ‘Keep the Lights On’ is available to stream now on Dekkoo!

United States, the 50s. Amongst stuffed poodles, whiskey-infused teas, sinful mambo lessons, and threats of alien invasion, Mr(s). Fairytale spends her days locked in her dream home and without a moment to breathe. A surreal world where anyone can finally be who they want to be, but behind which hides another upsetting reality. Stream ‘Fairytale’ now on Dekkoo!

Carl, struggling to come to terms with his sexuality, meets James for a one night stand. ‘Your Heart is Homeless’ is streaming now on Dekkoo!

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Coming next week: A confidently out German-born Iranian falls for an Iranian immigrant in a refugee center in Faraz Shariat’s vibrant, lively, lovely debut. – Variety

Short Film Spotlight: Black Knuckle and Deputy Maltese

Two men on opposite sides of the law – a notorious outlaw and a principled deputy – can’t quite ignore their feelings for one another in the heartwarming Western comedy Black Knuckle and Deputy Maltese.

Deputy Maltese (Lane Compton) has mixed feelings when he learns that Black Knuckle (Gabriel Sousa) has been apprehended. A wanted thief, the most valuable asset Black Knuckle ever stole was the deputy’s heart. Still, Maltese can’t sit idly by with his lover behind bars. He lets Black Knuckle go, allowing himself to be tied up in the process to make it look like to proper escape.

Their parting is bittersweet, but thankfully won’t last long. Black Knuckle is soon captured by a band of even more dangerous outlaws. It’s up to Deputy Maltese – along with his badass, no-nonsense female sheriff (Kym Wilson) – to step up, ride out and go save the man he loves.

With a lightening-fast pace and game performances, Black Knuckle and Deputy Maltese plays out like a live-action cartoon. Director Jason Phillips and screenwriter Theo Poling have great fun upending American Western tropes in delightful ways. Using a diverse cast, playing characters who freely accept and encourage the gay ‘will-they-won’t-they’ romance unfolding before them, the film manages to be radically subversive in the most charming, easy-breezy, non-confrontational way possible. It’s just good, clean fun. The only downside is that, at just 14-minutes, you’ll wish it was a feature-length film.

Watch the trailer for Black Knuckle and Deputy Maltese below. The film is now streaming on Dekkoo.