Category: Short Film

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.

Don’t miss the surprising Dekkoo Original short film Do We Really Have To Say Goodbye?

Ryan (Noah Brown) and Jacob (Jamal Douglas) have been together for four years. They had planned to get married in the summer of 2020. Then the pandemic hit… and Jacob got sick.

To make matters worse, because of the nature of the virus, Ryan was not allowed to visit Jacob in the hospital. Nor was he there when Jacob died. But before his passing, Jacob had recorded a message on his phone for Ryan. Now, Ryan has travelled to their favorite beach to watch the video message and to say goodbye – even though going outside places Ryan in immediate, physical danger.

Making movies during the pandemic is, obviously, an extremely tricky task, but writer-director J.T. Seaton pulls it off with aplomb. At just 11 minutes, Do We Really Have to Say Goodbye packs a hefty emotional punch… and has a horror twist in store as well.

Do We Really Have to Say Goodbye is available to stream now on Dekkoo.

New This Week – 11/27/20

A polyamorous male couple test the limits of a restrictive society when they become romantically entangled with a beautiful young woman. ‘The Taste of Betel Nut’ is now available to stream on Dekkoo!

A seemingly pious Hasidic man living a secret double life misplaces his black hat one night which will cause his two separate lives to collide in a way he never imagined. Watch ‘Black Hat’ now on Dekkoo!

John Curry transformed ice skating from a dated sport into an exalted art form. Coming out on the night of his 1976 Olympic win, he became the first openly gay Olympian in a time when homosexuality was not fully legal. Ferociously ambitious yet bent on self-destruction, Curry was an artist and an athlete whose body time and again – sometimes against his will – became a political battlefield. ‘The Ice King’ is available to stream now on Dekkoo!

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Coming next week – Dekkoo Films present a new original short film from the winner of our ‘Love & Distance’ short film competition!

New This Week – 11/20/20

Ryan and Jacob have been together for 4 years. They had planned to get married in the summer of 2020. Then a pandemic hit. And Jacob got sick. Dekkoo Films presents, ‘Do We Really Have to Say Goodbye’.

‘Back On Board: Greg Louganis’ is an intimate portrait of the public triumphs and private struggles of trailblazing openly gay athlete Greg Louganis. A refreshingly candid documentary film about this four-time Olympic champion, ‘Back On Board’ follows Louganis as he struggles with financial security and reunites with the sport he once dominated but was not welcome in.

‘History’ follows Jamie, a thirty-something gay New York lawyer, in the days after a messy breakup with his partner of five years, Jared. Through flashbacks, the audience watches Jamie’s evolution—or lack thereof—on issues of intimacy, sex, gender role conformity and friendships as he rebuilds his life on his own terms. Binge all three seasons of ‘History’ now on Dekkoo!

In the western town of Coal Ridge, a deputy keeps his love a secret until the outlaw who stole his heart is taken hostage. ‘Black Knuckle and Deputy Maltese’ is available to stream now on Dekkoo!

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Coming next week: A polyamorous couple sets out to test the limits of a restrictive society.

New This Week – 11/13/20

From visionary director Daniel Nolasco, ‘Dry Wind’ is an erotic fever dream centered around Sandro, a shy, middle-aged factory worker in a secret relationship with his younger co-worker Ricardo. When the mysterious and seductive Maicon arrives on the scene, a heated love triangle begins to develop, threatening to upend the secret life Sandro has strived to keep hidden. ‘Dry Wind’ is a available to stream now, exclusively on Dekkoo!

When a teenager with Down syndrome is abandoned by his mother, a gay couple take him in and become the loving family he’s never had. But when their living arrangement is discovered, the men are forced to fight a biased legal system to save the life of the child they have come to love as their own. ‘Any Day Now’ is now streaming on Dekkoo!

In a cold, lonely motel room, two boys who came out to their parents form a special, self-affirming bond. Watch ‘Blind Chance’ now on Dekkoo!

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Coming next week: A brand-new original short film from Dekkoo Films!

A straight couple find their new home haunted in the short horror-comedy Poltergays

From Lonely Spectre Productions and the mind of writer and producer Brendan Haley, the new Dekkoo Original short film Poltergays takes the format of more recent horror hits like The Conjuring, Insidious, Sinister and Paranormal Activity to turn homophobia on its head.

When Perry and Tiff Myers (Peter Stickles and Clarke Wolfe), a woefully basic, bible “humping” straight couple, move into their new West Hollywood home, they don’t expect to be sharing it with Tanner and Derek (Charles Chudabala and Francisco Chacin), a fun young gay couple who are quickly assumed to be malevolent specters from the hellish great beyond.

While each party sifts through their memories of the event for a documentary crew from a TV show called “Spectral Stories,” the true story of what happened in this house of queer horrors starts coming into focus. Maybe Perry and Tiff are the more evil of the two couples after all.

Mocking homophobic culture’s labeling of the queer community as unholy, director Andrew J. Ceperley uses a stylish horror movie setting to point out such absurdity and ignorance. It’s also completely hilarious, featuring terrific deadpan comic performances all around.

Poltergays is now available to stream, exclusively on Dekkoo.