‘Born for You’ tells the incredibly moving true story of Italy’s first adoptive gay parent

From Italian director Fabio Mollo, Born for You tells the beautiful and touching true story of Luca (Pierluigi Gigante), a gay, single, Catholic man who, in 2017, adopted Alba, a child with Down syndrome who had been left in hospital shortly after being born.

Thirty heterosexual families rejected her before the court decided to entrust her to Luca. With this new precedent set, the legal foster care register for single gay men was inaugurated in Italy.

Luca may have been the first single gay parent in Italy to successfully adopt a daughter, but this was not a charitable gesture or a fight against the system… he simply wanted to start a family.

Beautifully shot and powerfully acted, the film weaves between Luca’s present-day struggles and flashbacks to his youth, creating a deeply intimate portrait of love, loss and the fight for equality and acceptance.

Born for You is a profound reflection on the transformative and triumphant power of love and the potential of LGBTQ+ families everywhere.

Watch the trailer for Born for You below. The film is now streaming on Dekkoo.

A new documentary examines the life and legacy of photographer George Platt Lynes

George Platt Lynes began his career photographing celebrities – and it’s those portraits, along with his extravagant fashion work, that he’s best remembered for today.

George’s heart, his passion and his greatest talent lay elsewhere, however – in his work with the nude male form. This work, sensuous and radically explicit for its time, has only recently been discovered for the revolution that it represents – a man capturing his fantasies as a gift, as well as a window into a future that Lynes’ camera saw coming before anyone else did.

From visionary art director Sam Shahid, the riveting and informative documentary Hidden Master: The Legacy of George Platt Lynes features a stunning collection of photography from the 1930s through the 1950s, uncovering the lesser known side of the artist’s life – including his gifted eye for the male form, his long-term friendships with Gertrude Stein and Alfred Kinsey and his lasting influence as one of the first openly gay American artists.

Watch the trailer for Hidden Master: The Legacy of George Platt Lynes below. The documentary is now available on Dekkoo.

Short Film Spotlight: Under the Crescent Moon

From the outset of Under the Crescent Moon, it’s clear that there is something going on between high school besties Abdul and Jerryl.

Constantly flirting and finding excuses to playfully touch one another, the two young men are inching ever closer to finally admitting their true feelings.

The problem lies in the societal and religious expectations that surround them. Abdul, who comes from a conservative Muslim family, feels deeply that his love for Jerryl is a direct affront to Allah – and his strict father, who has taken ominous notice of the boys’ affection, would likely agree.

An emotional 15-minute short film from the Philippines, Under the Crescent Moon tells a tender and ultimately heartbreaking coming-of-age story about young love.

Watch a quick trailer for Under the Crescent Moon below. The short film is now available on Dekkoo.

Brace yourself for Pierre Creton’s acclaimed, sexually-charged fever dream drama ‘A Prince’

In the blissful and forbidding French countryside, an enveloping, cross-generational saga unfolds between an attractive young gardening apprentice and the three much older men who are training him – all of whom become instrumental in his professional tutelage as well as his sexual coming-of-age.

Inspired by memories of his own teenage years, outsider artist and real-life farmer Pierre Creton isn’t afraid to confront taboos while crafting this truly unusual, austere gay drama.

Unfolding at a deliberately slow pace, A Prince fuses together science, sensuality and meditation – culminating in the most sexually-charged film about horticulture you’re ever likely to see.

Winner of the Best French-Language Film Prize in the Directors’ Fortnight section of the 2023 Cannes Film Festival, A Prince offers up a singular vision of a quietly eroticized natural world. Placing it at number two on his list of the Best Films of 2023, John Waters called it “slow, spooky and poetically fucked up – in other words, perfect.”

Watch the trailer for A Prince below. The film is now streaming on Dekkoo.

The full first season of the gay comedy series ‘He’s with Me’ is now available on Dekkoo!

Ted is straight. Martin isn’t. When they meet at a wedding and become fast friends, the ensuing confusion shows how little they know about being modern day men, but how much they do know about being there for each other.

A wildly popular short comedy series with naturally charismatic stars and a sophisticated style of storytelling, He’s With Me grew out of a well-received stage show, based around creator and star Jason Cicci’s real life experiences.

Examining his friendships with straight men, he realized how often funny and amusing situations arose from this particular gay/straight male dynamic – opening a conversation about how comfortable men are (or should be) with being available to one another emotionally.

All ten episodes from the first season of He’s with Me are now streaming on Dekkoo. You can watch the trailer below.

Short Film Spotlight: Skin to Skin

Frenetically paced and packed with gorgeous visuals, the deceptively titled short film Skin to Skin goes way beneath the surface, examining the unexpected emotional depth that can reveal itself during casual hook-ups.

Based on a conversation with an anonymous individual, credited only as ‘O’, the film uses actors to recreate the intimate moments that can occur just after sex between strangers concludes.

An unseen narrator shares a few stories about encounters with people whose post-coital conversation surprised him. Among them are a man grieving the recent loss of his father, a Brazilian immigrant looking for a new place to call home and a young woman learning to own and appreciate the literal scars of her past.

A subversively moving piece of work, Skin to Skin examines the no-strings-attached, faceless profiles of Grindr in an honest, destigmatized way and shows how casual hook-ups can sometimes lead to unexpectedly poignant connections – and also how, in some situations, it’s easier to reveal your innermost self to a total stranger.

Watch the trailer for Skin to Skin below. The short film is now streaming on Dekkoo.

Two dancers find their relationship threatened by ambition in the sensual drama ‘Dying Briefly’

Dying Briefly follows young performer Sebastian (Martín Saracho) who, shortly after joining an esteemed dance company, meets Arsenio (Joan Kuri), a charming and more experienced fellow dancer.

The two men quickly fall for one another, beginning an intense affair and soon becoming a couple.

When a manipulative new choreographer arrives with methods that begin to shake up the established group dynamics, the pair find themselves in crisis.

Now they must compete with one another for the same role while trying to stay true to themselves and their affection for one another. Will their relationship, and the troupe as a whole, survive the competition?

Like a gay male version of Black Swan, Dying Briefly is a captivating and thought-provoking romantic dance drama, exploring complicated issues of body image, bullying, and self harm with sexy and talented lead actors and impressive choreography that will sweep you off your feet.

Watch the trailer for Dying Briefly below. The film is now streaming on Dekkoo.

Short Film Spotlight: Eclipse of a Relationship

Three lead actors bare it all in Eclipse of a Relationship, a sexually-charged 9-minute short (originally titled Eclissi di un rapporto) from Italian writer-director Nino Zeno.

Unfolding largely without dialog, the film follows two men in a difficult relationship. The older, more dominant of the two has invited a third man to join them in the bedroom. Though it certainly spices things up, it also accelerates the inevitable decline of their feelings for one another.

Incredibly sensual and packed with both naked bodies and naked feelings, this poetic, deliberately ambiguous film takes on an eerily voyeuristic quality as the audience is invited to witness incredibly intimate events that no one was ever meant to see.

Watch the trailer for Eclipse of a Relationship below. The short film is now streaming on Dekkoo.