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.

New This Week – 7/31/20

‘Bitter Years’ is a drama based on the life of Mario Mieli, one of the founders of the Italian Homosexual Liberation Movement, created at the beginning of the 1970s. He was an activist, intellectual, writer and performer – a key figure on the Italian cultural scene. ‘Bitter Years’ is a streaming exclusively on Dekkoo!

A man ridicules his wife’s fascination for masculinity, but she’s dead serious. Watch ‘A Double Life’ now on Dekkoo!

Leo stands out in a crowd. That’s not always a good thing working in a fish cannery in Alaska. His dreams of leaving this small town are hard fought, until a new boy moves to town and sees him for who he really is (an international superstar). ‘Alaska is a Drag’ is available to stream now on Dekkoo!

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Coming next week: An ederly woman begins to learn that she knows nothing about her son.

Short Film Spotlight: Vertical Lines

Dave and Andrew reach a new level of closeness in their relationship when they share their personal experiences with self-harm. An intimate conversational piece inspired by true events, Vertical Lines explores the path forward from personal trauma.

Vertical Lines co-stars and was directed by Kyle Reaume. An award winning Toronto-based director, writer, actor, and picture editor, Reaume is a graduate of the Toronto Film School. His student short film The Lazarus Files took home Best Picture, Best Producer, Best Editor and Best Production Design at TFS Fest and his collective shorts have screened in over 60 film festivals worldwide. In additional to Vertical Lines, you can see his films What About Shelley, Battle Cry and Ecstasy on Dekkoo now.

Reaume’s co-star in the film is writer-director-actor Nick Neon. His films Ultra Blue, The Definition of Lonely and Zero One are also available on Dekkoo right now.

Vertical Lines won the “Best Men’s Short” Audience Award at the Wicked Queer 2018 Film Festival. It also took home the “Best Screenplay” prize at the 2019 Future of Film Showcase.

Vertical Lines is available now on Dekkoo.

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New This Week – 7/24/20

From writer-director João Maia, this stylish new biopic follows the life and career of singer-songwriter António Variações. An inspiring figure in Portuguese pop culture, Variações fought through severe prejudice to express his love of music, performance and fashion on a grand, uncompromising scale. Dekkoo Films is proud to present ‘Variações: Guardian Angel’ available to stream now, exclusively, on Dekkoo!

When his boyfriend shows up unannounced, Elias’ religious family learns their son’s darkest secret. ‘South of Heaven’ is streaming now on Dekkoo!

Brought together by an immediate chemistry, a couple finds themselves questioning their future together, and if love is enough to change their plans. ‘What We Don’t Say’ is available now on Dekkoo!

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Coming next week: A drama based on the life of Mario Mieli, one of the founders of the Italian Homosexual Liberation Movement.

New This Week – 7/17/20

Daniel is a young man struggling with an inner identity that is desperate to be realised. After leaving his father to move to London, his subconscious desires begin to take control. ‘Into the Mirror’ is available to stream now on Dekkoo!

The murder of Madorilyn Crawford, a famous transsexual artist, hides dark secrets that involve powerful people in the Colombian politic context and exposes the hypocrisy of those who handle power above the law. Watch ‘Natural Selection’ now on Dekkoo!

An Asian-American high school football player confronts his deepest fears after an encounter with a mysterious figure. ‘Jeremiah’ is available to watch now on Dekkoo!

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Coming next week: Dekkoo Films presents a biopic about António Variações, a famous Portuguese pop rock singer from the 80s who died from AIDS-related complications in 1984.

Short Film Spotlight: The Gay Rub

The Gay Rub is a project by Steven Reigns devoted to collecting rubbings from LGBTQ historical markers, signs, tombstones, cenotaphs, plaques, and monuments. By gathering LGBTQ rubbings from across the globe, these public historic commemorations can be viewed at once. LGBTQ history and landmarks are underrepresented and underappreciated. The Gay Rub’s aim is to help draw more attention to the markers and the LGBTQ significance that prompted them.

Steven Reigns is a Los Angeles-based poet and educator and was appointed the first Poet Laureate of West Hollywood. Alongside over a dozen chapbooks, he has published collections such as Inheritance and Your Dead Body is My Welcome Mat.

Reigns holds a BA in Creative Writing from the University of South Florida, a Master of Clinical Psychology from Antioch University, and is an eleven-time recipient of The Los Angeles County’s Department of Cultural Affairs’ Artist in Residency Grant. Currently he is touring The Gay Rub, an exhibition of rubbings from LGBT landmarks, facilitates the monthly Lambda Lit Book Club, and is at work on a new collection of poetry.

Director Michael J. Saul is fairly new to documentary filmmaking, but he was a pioneer in the San Francisco art and film scene of the 1980s, producing a series of experimental films with musical collaborator Steven M. Miller which found success in film festivals around the world. With the new short doc, The Gay Rub, Saul shines a spotlight on the important work that Reigns has been doing and offers viewers an exclusive look at this profoundly impressive collection.

The Gay Rub is now available on Dekkoo.