Discover great gay stories.

Short Film Spotlight: Call Your Father

“Queer filmmaker Jordan Firstman’s hilarious new short is a brutally honest glimpse at a queer romance.” – Out Magazine

Usually a reserved guy, Greg (Craig Chester of Swoon, Adam & Steve and Kill Your Darlings) struggles to keep up with young, unpredictable Josh (writer-director Jordan Firstman) on their first date. But as the night continues, things spiral out of control and the two men must confront the generational divide in this cutting and insightful comedy about what it means to be gay in contemporary America.

A charming, funny and insightful 20-minute short film, Call Your Father was a huge hit at film festivals all around the country. You can watch it right now on Dekkoo.

Revisit the controversial 1994 drama ‘Priest’

Not quite as incendiary as it was when it was first released in 1994, or as the theme might suggest, Priest tells the moving, truly provocative story of one clergyman’s struggle for sexual identity and religious idealism.

Linus Roache gives a stirring performance as Father Greg, a newly transferred priest assigned to a parish in a working-class neighborhood of Liverpool. As he comes into conflict with the liberal Father Matthew (Tom Wilkinson, terrific as always), whi is having a scandalous affair with the housekeeper (Cathy Tyson), Father Greg tries to come to terms with his emerging sexuality.

As the heart of this classic film is also the touching story of a sexually abused teen (Christine Tremarco) who confides in Father Greg, thus engaging him in a crisis on conscience.

A remarkably compelling debate on religious dogma, one intended to provoke thought and stir your emotions, Priest made a whole lot of waves when its premiered at the Toronto International Film Festival (where it won the People’s Choice Award) back in 1994 – and went onto a wide release in early 1995. The film was loudly condemned by the Catholic Church in Ireland, who called for a ban. Using sound judgement, the Irish Film Censor Board decided to go ahead and allow it to be released… on Easter weekend, no less. This marked one of the first major disagreements between the Church and the Board.

Priest is streaming now on Dekkoo.

New This Week – 8/10/18

A homosexual Catholic priest finds out during confessional that a young girl is being sexually abused by her father, and has to decide how to deal with both that secret and his own. ‘Priest’ is now available to stream on Dekkoo!

On Josh and Greg’s first date, they quickly realize that the generational divide between them is the least of their worries. The gay short film ‘Call Your Father’ is available to stream now on Dekkoo!

Two gay men celebrate their 25th anniversary by traveling across the country to get married in every state that will let them. The documentary ‘Married and Counting’ is now available to stream on Dekkoo!

____________________________

Coming next week – Matthias lives in Berlin. Matthias likes techno. Matthew likes Matthias. Matthew wants Matthias. Matthew wants to be Matthias.

Get ‘Woke’ on Dekkoo!

Winner of the “Best Web Series” award at the La Rochelle Fiction Festival in 2017 and the “Best LGBT Series” award at the UK Web Fest that same year, the gay drama series Woke (originally titled Les Engages) is now available to watch on Dekkoo!

The show follows Hicham (Mehdi Meskar), who runs away from his home and comes to Lyon looking for Thibaut (Eric Pucheu), an attractive young man who had tried to kiss him just a few years before… and left a lasting impression.

Thibaut is an activist at the local LGBT Community Center. Hicham soon discovers his world. As his process of self-discovery unfolds, Hicham’s initial apprehension soon turns to enthusiasm. However, he soon comes to find that Thibaut isn’t exactly the person he appears to be.

Check out the trailer below and catch up on all the action on Dekkoo – where all ten episodes of the first season are now streaming.

Film Comment Magazine touts Dekkoo!

Founded in 1962, Film Comment magazine features reviews and analysis of mainstream, art-house, and avant-garde filmmaking from around the world.

In the July-August 2018 issue, Michael Koresky (the director of editorial and creative strategy at Film Society of Lincoln Center; the co-founder and co-editor of Reverse Shot; a frequent contributor to the Criterion Collection; and the author of the book Terence Davies, published by University of Illinois Press) calls Dekkoo a, “…a welcome addition to the lineup of niche platforms, such as FilmStruck and Shudder, that truly seem to care about who’s watching and why…”

READ KORESKY’S ARTICLE “HOME MOVIES: A VERY NATURAL SELECTION” HERE!

Get lost in the beauty of ‘Malila: The Farewell Flower’

Former gay lovers Shane and Pitch reunite after years apart and try to heal the wounds of their past. Shane is haunted by the tragic death of his daughter, while Pitch suffers a grave illness, rejecting medical treatment as painful and ineffective. Pitch creates beautiful structures of flowers and banana leaves as a way to cope. Meanwhile, Shane trains to become a Buddhist monk, to build karma for Pitch to either keep him alive or to help in his afterlife. A remarkably beautiful, spiritual film, Malila: The Farewell Flower is as close to transcendent as cinema gets.

Born in Nakhon Phanom, north-eastern Province of Thailand, in 1981, writer-director Anucha Boonyawatana heads up one of the largest video production companies in Thailand. Her student film, Down the River, which, like much of her work, combines Buddhist philosophy, Thai art and a gay love story, won numerous awards and was even given a release in the United States. She followed that up with her debut feature The Blue Hour, which screened in the Panorama section of the Berlin International Film Festival in 2015.

Malila: The Farewell Flower, Boonyawatana’s second full-length feature, might also be her most gorgeous, haunting and heady. It’s streaming right now on Dekkoo. Check out the trailer below.

New This Week – 7/27/18

Ayden and Brent work together to maintain a healthy relationship as two gay men in a society where they are setup to fail. Binge-watch the entire first season of ‘About Us’.

A Jewish New Yorker is bedridden patriarch dying of lung cancer, confesses for the first time to son that he was always attracted to men. Despite his long-lasting marriage and faithfulness to wife. Watch the gay short film ‘Like Father’ now on Dekkoo!

Mischa, a rap producer, is in a secret relationship with Lukas, a young performer, who is spiraling out of control on drugs and the fear that he is past his prime. When Lukas’ younger brother begins to capture Mischa’s attention the siblings begin to compete for the spotlight and Mischa. Watch ‘Off Beat’ now on Dekkoo!

______________________

Coming next week: A brand new gay film that has an eye for natural splendor and a feel for humanity’s existential fears.

Just added: ‘Off Beat’

Off Beat follows 26-year-old Lukas (Hans-Jakob Mühlethaler), who is not so much living as floating.

His dream of making it as a musician is on the wane and his great passion – freestyle hip-hop – has also past its heyday. Lukas lives with his producer, 46-year-old Mischa (Domenico Pecoraio), in an old loft where they cultivate cannabis. They have been having a turbulent affair for years – but this is a closely guarded secret.

Lukas has grown cold inside and only really feels himself in moments of excess. Drunk and coked-up to the eyeballs, he toils his way through a gig in a small club. In the audience his sixteen-year-old brother Sämi (Manuel Neuburger), an ambitious rapper himself, feels nothing but shame for his brother’s embarrassing performance.

Mischa decides that he has had enough of Lukas’ escapades and suggests they ask Sämi to join the band. Sensing that he is about to be substituted, Lukas gets out of his head and starts to take back control of his life.

A gritty drama that shines a spotlight on a corner of closeted gay life not often seen on film, Swiss writer-director Jan Gassmann’s Off Beat is now streaming on Dekkoo. Check out the trailer below.

One Great Gay Shot – ‘Woke’ (2017)

‘Woke’ is now available to binge-watch on Dekkoo!

Watch the short (soon to be feature) film Breaking Fast

Well-received by critics, audiences and juries at film festivals all around the globe, writer-director Mike Mosallam‘s short film Breaking Fast is currently on the path to becoming a feature film. The original short is now available on Dekkoo!

The 17-minute short follows Mo (Ryan P. Shrime), an Arab-American Muslim man dealing with heartbreak. Soon into the film, Mo meets Kal (Tom Berklund), a very sweet and attractive All-American dude. At first, Mo assumes that the two of them will have little to nothing in common. To his great surprise, however, Kal offers to break fast with him during the month of Ramadan. As the two men learn more and more about each other, they begin to fall in love.

“My intention was to tell a story that my friends and I could see ourselves in – one that spoke to the nuances of daily life and treated identity: religious, sexual, gender and otherwise, as harmonious lenses by which individuals interact with the world around them,” said Mosallam during an interview with the Arab Film Festival, where he was selected as a juror. “When a friend asked what characters in modern cinema I felt best represented my journey, as a Muslim, I was at a complete loss to name one.”

Mosallam is working to change that in ways both big and small – and Breaking Fast is certainly a step in the right direction. Check out the trailer below and make sure to watch the film on Dekkoo.