Category: Short Film

Max, a new Dekkoo-Original Short Film, launches September 23rd

Mark your calendars, gay film fans. The brand-new Dekkoo-Original Short Film Max will be available starting September 23rd. Written by and starring Jono Mitchell and directed by Kristina Arjona, the ten-minute film follows two men, total strangers, who form a tenuous bond in a hotel room.

Jeremy (Mitchell) is very recently divorced – in fact, it just happened. After his marriage started to become casually abusive, he knew it was time to pull away. But that doesn’t make it any less painful. Coming out on the other side of signing the papers, his first step is to meet up with an alluring sex-worker who goes by the name Max (Gregory Piccirilli).

Despite Jeremy’s best efforts, he’s not able to get too much info out of Max about his real name or personal life, but the connection that they soon form becomes deep and authentic. Jeremy is in pain and Max, though he may be a hired hand, is ready to lend a comforting bare shoulder (and much more if the mood strikes).

With terrific, subtly emotional performances and skillful writing and direction that teases the larger world and lives beyond their room, Max could easily be expanded into a longer, most expansive feature. The film also brings up a lot of questions about the nature of empathy in transactional relationships.

Check out the trailer, along with some exclusive stills from the film and the poster below and make sure to watch and show your support in the comments when it becomes available on Dekkoo on 9/23!

New This Week – 9/11/20

A Brazilian man and his friends search all over San Francisco to find the guy he had a fling with. They leave no stone unturned, even resorting to visiting every bathroom stall and parking lot they come across. ‘Bathroom Stalls & Parking Lots’ is available now to stream on Dekkoo!

This quietly electrifying tribute to Harvey Milk focuses on his camera store at 575 Castro Street. Simple, elegant imagery is set to audio of Harvey, who recorded his thoughts in case he—like Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.—did not make it to the mountaintop. Watch ‘575 Castro St.’ now on Dekkoo!

Combining over twelve years of footage and narrated by their twin sons, TWO: The Story of Roman & Nyro, follows legendary songwriter Desmond Child and his lifelong partner’s loving journey to create their new modern family. Stream ‘TWO: The Story of Roman & Nyro’ now on Dekkoo!

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Coming next week: Meet the Morecocks!

The acclaimed short film Brother is coming soon to Dekkoo

The 2019 short film Brother (Bror) has been picked up in a deal with Dekkoo, and will be released on our platform in the original language with English subtitles.

Nico (Phillip Oros) and Khalid (Poyan Karimi) are best friends. Khalid was born in Iran, a country where having feelings for another man can lead to the death penalty. Nico was born in Sweden, a country where it’s openly accepted for a man to have a boyfriend. And yet it’s Nico who keeps holding back when Khalid tries to take their relationship to another level.

Brother was created by Isabella Carbonell a screenwriter and director based in Stockholm, Sweden. She has written/directed several shorts and music videos among them is the film Boys that was screened during the Critic’s Week in Cannes and that won the Grand Jury Award for Best Live Action Short at the AFI Film Fest in Los Angeles.

Carbonell said “We are so ridiculously happy and honored to have our film be part of this exciting platform. Brother is all about identity, intimacy and of course love. Hopefully, this love will spread even further now thanks to Dekkoo!”

“This is one of our first ever Swedish titles and we are very proud to be championing the work by the young talented director Isabella Carbonell and producer Alexandra Alegren getting their work to a wider audience,” said Ebba Eriksson of the British distributor Videoplugger (which represents the film). “The topics raised in this short are very relevant, touching on integration and homophobia.”

Check out the original Swedish poster for Brother below and keep your eyes on Dekkoo to see the film. It will be available in the coming weeks.

Brother_1

 

New This Week – 9/4/20

Montreal is snowed under. While the downtown cranes dance their hypnotic ballet, two strangers meet randomly in an unfinished apartment. Their chance encounter leads to a violent attraction and a dependency beyond reason. ‘The Acrobat’ is available now, exclusively, on Dekkoo!

Dekkoo Films presents ‘Mani’.

Mani a 12-year-old boy is coming to terms with his burgeoning puberty and sexuality while navigating a series of male-dominated environments in contemporary Tehran. ‘Mani’ is available to watch now on Dekkoo!

Motty and Alon, a gay couple from Israel, are pursuing their dream of becoming parents. This feature-length documentary follows them on the journey – as they communicate with Krista, their American surrogate, and await the arrival of their biological twins. Along the way, the film raises questions about parenthood, religion, social norms and our technologically advanced world. Watch ‘Double Income, Kids’ on Dekkoo!

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Coming next week: A Brazilian transplant and his friends take to the streets of San Francisco to pursue an American fling. 

New This Week – 8/28/20

Director Ksenia Ratushnaya’s bold first feature, Outlaw shines a spotlight on modern LGBTQ life (and strife) in Russia. Highly controversial due to the country’s “gay propaganda law,” this provocative and visually dazzling new film tells two parallel love stories – one a love triangle between a gay teen, a popular girl and a violent jock; the other a romance between a general and a transgender dancer in the Soviet ’80s. ‘OUTLAW’ is available now exclusively on Dekkoo!

Bo, a religious and ultra-conservative teen goes on a cross-country delivery job with his estranged father. On the trip, Bo struggles with his parent’s recent divorce and discovering that his father is gay. ‘Long Haul’ is available now on Dekkoo.

In 2016 a small group of families with transgender kids joined the fight against a wave of discriminatory anti-transgender legislation that swept the nation and their home state. With the help of a coalition of civil rights activists and ally lawmakers, these families embarked on an uncharted journey of fighting for their children’s lives and futures in this present-day civil rights story. Stream ‘The Most Dangerous Year’ now on Dekkoo!

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Coming next week: Another brand new gay film arrives on Dekkoo exclusively! Months before it’s DVD release.

New This Week – 8/21/20

Dekkoo Films presents, ‘THE LAWYER‘. Life drifts by for gay corporate lawyer Marius, his time spent teasing friends and chasing young lovers. One day, Marius’ estranged father dies. Mourning turns to love as the lawyer finds an unanticipated connection with a sex-cam worker Ali – a Syrian refugee stuck in Belgrade. ‘The Lawyer’ is available exclusively on Dekkoo!

In an underground parking garage in Iran, a car thief stumbles upon two discreet male lovers sharing a moment of intimacy. ‘Parking’ is available now, exclusively on Dekkoo!

A couple in love from Baja California Mexico are in the middle of the preparations for a huge wedding, the only problem is that their marriage is not legal, since they are both male. ‘No Dress Code Required’ is now streaming on Dekkoo!

New To Dekkoo – 8/13/20

Yoav’s demons start haunting him after his best friend becomes pregnant without telling him, and after his boyfriend of 15 years starts talking about children too. His life unravels, and self-destruction seems inevitable. ’15 Years’ is available now exclusively on Dekkoo!

Saul is a deeply insecure young man who can barely grasp the concept of an active sex life. Orlando is a confident university gymnast who does not allow his HIV-positive status to define him. When these two opposites meet by accident, their differing personalities offer them a completely new way of seeing life, one without fear or judgement. Dekkoo Films presents, ‘The Day Began Yesterday’ – exclusively on Dekkoo!

‘Game Face’ sheds light on coming out journeys of LGBTQ+ athetes. This award-winning documentary tells the parallel stories of Fallon Fox, the first female transgender pro MMA fighter, and Terrence Clemens, a college basketball player in Oklahoma, who happens to be gay. ‘Game Face’ is available to stream now on Dekkoo!

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Coming next week: Dekkoo Films presents ‘The Lawyer’.

The award-winning short film Alaska is a Drag tells a fish out of water story… literally

The short film Alaska is a Drag, now available on Dekkoo, is a fish out of water story… literally. The film’s hero, Leo (Martin L. Washington Jr.), is an aspiring superstar stuck working in a fish cannery in Alaska. Leo sees disco balls in the scales of the fish he slices. Everyone who slices fish all day, daydreams – Leo’s are just more glamtastic.

Most of the time, Leo and his twin sister Tristen (Maya Washington) are left to fend for themselves. To escape the monotony of fist fights and fish guts, they create their own magic, the Northern Lights follow them as they vogue down a woodsy path.

They hang out at the one gay bar in a hundred miles, owned by their surly surrogate mom – Jan (Margaret Cho).

Their real mom (Nia Peeples) left years ago and their dad George (Kevin Daniels) preaches on the side of the road. After years of getting beat up by his former best friend, Kyle (Christopher O’Shea), Leo has learned to fight back – his skills catch the eye of his cannery boss, an amateur boxer (Jason Scott Lee) who offers to train him to be a fighter.

And when the new kid in town, Declan (Matt Dallas), wants to be his sparring partner – Leo’s worlds begin to collide, Tristen enters Leo in a drag competition – he’s never performed for anyone but her – the drag audition falls on the same day as the qualifying round for boxing and Leo has to face the real reason he’s afraid to leave Alaska.

Watch the trailer for Alaska is a Drag below. The film is now available on Dekkoo.

 

Short Film Spotlight: Engaged

Engaged is a short romantic comedy that follows Darren (Daniel K. Isaac), who keeps trying – and failing – topropose to his boyfriend Elliot (Ryan Jamaal Swain).

When their relationship is put into an uncomfortable spotlight during a friend’s outrageous engagement party, Darren realizes he actually might be self–sabotaging himself… due to unresolved insecurities about his sexuality.

Engaged is a 17-minute short film written and directed by Dave Scala, a second-generation Filipino-American filmmaker and playwright who received his BFA from NYU’s Tisch School of the Arts film school. His four previous short films have screened and won top awards at over 40 film festivals in the US and abroad. His previous LGBT short film Grotto (released in 2013) won the Outstanding Emerging Talent award at FilmOUT San Diego, and screened at over 30 festivals, including the Palm Springs International ShortFest. Engaged has also won numerous awards at film festivals around the country.

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

 

New This Week – 8/7/20

Arrate is an elderly woman who receives a phone call from the hospital: her son Koldo is in a critical condition. She arrives to the hospital and finds him on a coma. During her stay at the hospital she will soon begin to realize that she knows nothing about his son’s life. ‘Puntu Koma’ is available now on Dekkoo!

Shane Bitney Crone’s plans to marry Tom Bridegroom in California after the same-sex marriage law is passed takes a tragic turn when his partner of six years accidentally dies and Tom’s family refuses Shane from attending the funeral. Watch ‘Bridegroom’ now on Dekkoo!

Flashbacks chronicle the O’Brien family from the 1960s when they reign as Suffield’s ideal family, through the 1990s when elderly matriarch Ginnie lives in seclusion with her gay son, Mark. ‘Dream House’ is available now on Dekkoo!

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Coming next week: A gay Israeli architect in a committed relationship is undone when the specter of parenthood is raised.