Discover great gay stories.

‘Every Act of Life’ celebrates the career and friendships of legendary playwright Terrence McNally

Through six groundbreaking decades in the theatre, four-time Tony Award-winning playwright Terrence McNally became a living legend, both on stage and off.

He launched the careers of some of Broadway’s biggest stars, was a pioneer in the fight for LGBTQ rights, triumphed over addiction, found love and inspiration at every age and continually showed the power of art to transform society.

Featuring interviews with Nathan Lane, Patrick Wilson, Edie Falco, Rita Moreno, Christine Baranski, F. Murray Abraham, Bryan Cranston and many more, Every Act of Life is an intimate and illuminating documentary that celebrates McNally’s life and relationships while examining his incredible legacy of work.

Watch the trailer for Every Act of Life below. The documentary is now streaming on Dekkoo.

A well-to-do gay couple cause neighborhood conflicts in the dark comedy ‘Concerned Citizen’

Concerned Citizen follows Ben and Raz (Shlomi Bertonov and Ariel Wolf), a young, attractive and financially secure gay couple who move to a migrant neighborhood in Tel Aviv.

After buying a renovated apartment, they begin to seek a surrogate to help them start a family. Their attempt to create a cozy life is disrupted, however, when Ben, looking to beautify his new street, plants a sapling on their corner.

The tree is not welcomed by all and soon becomes a source of conflict. When matters turn physical, Ben gets the police involved. The situation thrusts his internal prejudices to the surface, racking the liberally-minded Ben with guilt, and forcing him to grapple with his own complicity in the systems of oppression surrounding him.

Winner of the Best Screenplay Prize at the Jerusalem Film Festival, Israeli director Idan Haguel’s film is a morally complex, refreshingly smart dark comedy about personal responsibility and the uneasy balance between assuming the identity of a “concerned” citizenry and the adoption of a victim complex.

Concerned Citizen is a challenging, satirical parable for our times, with themes as relevant to contemporary Tel Aviv as any large city in the world.

Watch the trailer for Concerned Citizen below. The film is now streaming on Dekkoo.

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Brian Jordan Alvarez wrote, directed and stars in the sexy gay dramedy ‘Everything is Free’

From writer, director and star Brian Jordan Alvarez, an accomplished character actor you may recognize from countless viral TikTok videos, the ‘Will & Grace’ reboot, and films like 80 for Brady and M3GAN, Everything is Free is a sexy and playful comedy-drama about a particularly tricky love triangle.

Ivan (Alvarez), an American painter, has relocated to a coastal town in Colombia to focus on his work.

After some time apart, his straight best friend and former roommate, Christian (Peter Vack), comes to visit, bringing his younger brother, Cole (Morgan Krantz), along for the trip.

When a spark forms between Ivan and Cole, the pair start sleeping together, but attempt to keep their new affair secret. Once Christian discovers the truth of their relationship, the otherwise idyllic summer takes a turn – bringing up difficult and surprising emotions in not just the three men, but also their diverse circle of fellow American expats and tourists.

With exceptional cinematography and a memorable soundtrack, Alvarez navigates gay cinema tropes with self-awareness, humor, gravity, and a very modern sensibility.

Watch the trailer for Everything is Free below. The film is now streaming on Dekkoo.

Short Film Spotlight: A Bela é Poc

An intense short film from Brazilian writer-director Eric Lima and co-writer/star Taciano Soares, A Bela é Poc follows a proudly queer young man who is stuck living within a harsh environment that threatens his happiness at every turn.

Belinho (Soares), a devoted Francophile, dreams of a glamorous life on the stage, but his day-to-day reality is something quite different. Working to support his ailing, homophobic father, he’s constantly dodging threats of violence from the people in his community.

Nonetheless, with support from Mara, his best friend and biggest fan (Isabela Catao in a scene-stealing performance), he soldiers on, refusing to suppress himself for the closed-minded comfort of those around him.

But when he’s served a one-two punch of life-altering tragedies, Belinho risks drifting off into his Edith Piaf-inspired fantasy world for good.

With high energy performances, exceptional camera work and one particularly electric homage to My Own Private Idaho, A Bela é Poc offers up a hard-hitting examination of one man’s admirable resilience in the face of overwhelming adversity.

Check out the poster for A Bela é Poc below. The short film is now streaming on Dekkoo.

Survivors speak out in director David France’s riveting documentary ‘Welcome to Chechnya’

With searing urgency and uncommon bravery, the eye-opening documentary Welcome to Chechnya shadows a group of activists who risk unimaginable peril to confront the ongoing anti-LGBTQ purge raging in the repressive and closed Russian republic.

Since 2017, Chechnya’s leader, Ramzan Kadyrov, has waged a depraved operation to “cleanse the blood” of LGBTQ Chechens, overseeing a campaign to detain, torture and execute them. Operating without the sanction of the Kremlin, activists take matters into their own hands.

In this riveting and deeply affecting piece of work, David France, the acclaimed, award-winning director behind How to Survive a Plague, uses a remarkable hands-on approach to expose this atrocity and tell the story of an extraordinary group of people literally putting their lives on the line to confront evil and make not just Chechnya, but the whole world a better place for the LGBTQ community.

Watch the trailer for Welcome to Chechnya below. The film is now streaming on Dekkoo.

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Five filmmakers explore male sexuality and longing in the collection ‘Furious Desires’

The concept of desire is explored to the fullest in Furious Desires, a collection of five international short films exploring male sexuality and longing.

In Brazilian filmmaker Fabio Leal’s The Daytime Doorman, a man pushes past boundaries with someone who works in his apartment building. Also from Brazil, Ricky Mastro’s film Xavier and Miguel follows a teen who is ready to tell the world about the secret feelings he has for his best friend.

The Other Side, from Mexican director Rodrigo Alvarez Flores, chronicles the romance between two young men who will not let the border come between their love. Mexican filmmaker Denisse Quintero’s The Tiger’s Fight is centered around a homoerotic harvest ritual where village men are expected fight one another.

Finally, from Italian director Simone Bozzelli, Loris is Fine follows a naïve 20-year-old whose need for affection drives him to make some life-altering choices.

With all of the shorts combined together, this stylish and diverse collection runs a total of 91 minutes… and will surely leave you with some desires of your own.

Check out these select stills from each of the five featured short films below. Furious Desires is now streaming on Dekkoo.

Short Film Spotlight: Xmas Eve Eve

You know that scene at the end of almost every romantic comedy where one lover chases another to the airport to catch them and profess their love before they fly out of each other’s lives forever? Well, the short film Xmas Eve Eve takes that concept, expands on it and turns it completely on its head.

Set on a cold December night in 2020, while New York City is still in a state of semi-lockdown, this 13-minute rom-com follows Dennis (Christian Elán Ortiz), a young Brooklyn resident who is planning to leave the city for good just two days before Christmas. When he runs into Tom (Javan Nelson), a recent ex-boyfriend, while in route to La Guardia, his plans get a little more complicated.

A frantic chase through several New York boroughs soon ensues, with long held frustrations, lingering feelings, a particularly heavy suitcase and some clunky N95 masks along for the ride.

Featuring terrific performances from lead actors Nelson and Ortiz, and expert direction from up-and-coming filmmaker Dazhi Huang, Xmas Eve Eve is like the lost gay subplot of Love, Actually that you didn’t even know you needed.

Watch a short teaser trailer for Xmas Eve Eve below. The film is now streaming on Dekkoo.

The full first season of ‘Thirty’ is now available on Dekkoo

Created by celebrated community strategist and social entrepreneur Dontá Morrison, adapted from his own novel ‘The End of the Rainbow,’ Thirty is a brand-new 7-episode series that pushes boundaries.

The show intricately explores the lives of Tyrin and Khalil (Brandon Moten and Bobby Musique Cooks), a Black, same-gender-loving couple. When a situation arises that throws them into a whirlwind of betrayal and heartbreak, it threatens to unravel their seemingly perfect relationship.

As their love story takes an unexpected turn, everyone in Tyrin and Khalil’s orbit seems to get caught in the crossfire. Friendships are questioned, faith is put to the test and prayers are soon answered in the most unexpected of ways.

With a compelling storyline and a talented ensemble cast, Thirty promises to captivate viewers from start to finish.

Watch a short trailer for the series below. The full first season is now streaming on Dekkoo.