An ancient creature spurs a young man’s sexual awakening in the stylish thriller ‘Carnal Sins’

After experiencing relentless bullying at school, Nino (Nicolás Díaz) and his family decide to spend the summer in a remote country house in Argentina.

This temporary home is situated in a conservative Catholic town and surrounded by a mysterious forest, supposedly haunted by ‘the Almamula,’ a monster that takes those who commit carnal sins and impure acts.

Unable to escape blatant homophobia and the suffocating grip of Catholic traditions, Nino wanders around the area and begins to see visions of the titular mythic monster.

With temptation and curiosity around every corner, he wonders how long it will take before this creature pushes his desires to their breaking point.

In Carnal Sins, promising first-time feature director Juan Sebastián Torales captures the turmoil of adolescence with a dark sense of humor and unflinching honesty, creating a truly beguiling narrative that takes hold of your imagination and never lets go.

Watch the trailer for Carnal Sins below. The film is now streaming exclusively on Dekkoo.

‘A Little Lust’ tackles bullying, homophobia and hormonal urges with a vibrant and funny Italian sensibility

There’s nothing wrong with a little lust as long as you keep it in check.

For sixteen-year-old Rocco (Andrea Amato), that’s getting harder to do. His two hormonally-charged aims in life are to finally get laid and to go see his favorite pop star in concert with his best friends – sassy and tomboyish Maria (Carolina Pavone) and nerdy and quiet Mauri (Francesco De Miranda).

When a bullying incident at school forces Rocco to come out of the closet to his divorced, middle-class Italian parents, their liberal leanings are severely tested. Luckily, his two friends stand by him and quickly latch on to his impulsive plan to run away from home… in his parents’ stolen car, no less.

The three buds are planning to go see their favorite singer in concert. They don’t realize, though, that they’re being followed hot on the heels by Rocco’s neurotic mother and his eccentric grandma – to hilarious effect.

A vibrant and funny Italian family comedy from director and co-star Veronica Pivetti, A Little Lust is both immersive and heartwarming – plus there’s a sweet, romantic twist you won’t want to miss.

Watch the trailer for A Little Lust below. The film is now available to stream on Dekkoo.

Dekkoo in Depth: Ross sits down with ‘Danny Will Die Alone’ creator and star Jack Tracy

In the video below, Ross sits down for an in-depth interview with Jack Tracy, creator and star of the hilarious and refreshingly direct new Dekkoo-original comedy series Danny Will Die Alone.

Born out of Tracy’s own post-pandemic dating life, the proudly jaw-dropping series follows one single man through the hell-scape of gay courtship in New York City – where he screws his way through the apps in an increasingly desperate search for his one true love.

Recently single after a devastating breakup – and freshly entering a mid-life crisis – Danny finds the dating scene markedly different from the last time he was on the market. Emotional unavailability, fear of commitment and hyper-sexuality abound, all while Danny remains blissfully unaware of his own multitude of flaws.

In Season One, Danny’s attempts at finding romance begin with a failed attempt at converting a hung hookup to a possible partner and end with hiring a professional matchmaker when the apps stop doing their job. Along the way he meets hipsters, conservatives, spiritual beings, sex gurus, sexual novices and even enters his ‘top era’ due to an overabundance of seemingly unwanted bottoms.

Rude, crude and unabashedly judgmental, Danny Will Die Alone serves the relatability missing from modern dating while adding a healthy dose of ‘did he really just say that?’ comedy. In addition to the humor, the series takes a critical look at modern dating, dating app etiquette and shifting relationship styles.

You can watch Ross’s interview with Jack Tracy below. All episodes of Danny Will Die Alone are now streaming on Dekkoo!

Director Jared Watmuff’s award winning short film ‘Hey You’ packs a shocking and tragic punch

In April of 2017, over 100 different people were reportedly abducted, tortured and murdered by authorities in Chechnya as part of a heinous crackdown against the LGBTQ+ community. Some of these people were directly targeted and entrapped using dating apps. Ongoing prosecutions, mysterious disappearances and additional waves of attacks continued soon after.

Hey You, a shocking, but deeply important 4-minute short film from writer-director Jared Watmuff, explores this topic head-on.

At the start of Hey You, it seems that we’re watching an ordinary connection transpire between two men on Grindr. Soon enough, however, we realize that we’re seeing the experiences of two men from very different places – and how their simple pursuit of companionship plays out in wildly divergent ways.

A winner of numerous awards at film festivals around the globe, Hey You exposes how, with the convenience of social media and dating apps, our hard-fought rights and freedoms can be taken for granted – and how, for many others, the fight for those freedoms is far from over.

We do feel the need to warn you that the film contains scenes and imagery that most viewers will – and should – find deeply disturbing. This film does not shy away from the tragic reality of the situation.

Watch a short trailer for Hey You below. The full short film is now available on Dekkoo.

Best buddies take a fateful summer road trip in the romantic German drama ‘You and I’

In You and I, Jonas (Eric Klotzsch) invites his best friend Phillip (George Taylor) to come along with him on a trip through Berlin for the summer.

The boys pack up their Mercedes camper and take off across uncharted territory, stopping to take photos and enjoy a laid-back road trip.

The fact that Phillip is gay has never been an issue for either of them. However, when they pick up a hitchhiker named Boris (Michal Grabowski), who shows Jonas some interesting spots and starts to make moves on Phillip, their friendship starts to fray in ways it never has before.

Maybe three really is a crowd after all? By the end of the summer, things between Jonas and Phillip will never be the same again.

Featuring a mind-blowingly sexy trio in lead actors Klotzsch, Taylor and Grabowski, writer-director Nils Bökamp’s You and I is like an even sexier, all-male version of Y Tu Mama Tambien or Jules & Jim. With guys this hot, you won’t forget this fateful summer anytime soon either.

Watch a short clip from You and I below. The film is now streaming on Dekkoo.

Short Film Spotlight: The Things You Think I’m Thinking

An award-winning short film from director Sherren Lee, The Things You Think I’m Thinking stars Station Eleven regular Prince Amponsah as Sean, a gay man struggling with emotional insecurities and body image issues as he embarks on his first date with another man since being badly scarred and losing both his arms in a house fire.

Though Sean and his new date Caleb (played by Jesse LaVercombe, the film’s screenwriter) hit it off while flirting at the bar, things get tense when they return to Sean’s apartment and Caleb tries to take their budding relationship into the bedroom.

The two soon realize that they need to communicate honestly – and not, like on so many dates before, assume what one another are thinking.

LaVercombe wrote this 14-minute short as a tribute to Amponsah. An accomplished Canadian stage actor, The Things You Think I’m Thinking marked his first film role after returning to the stage in 2016, following his own real-life injuries in a 2012 apartment fire.

The film went on to win multiple awards – including the Jury Prize for Best International Short Film at Outfest in 2018, a Special Jury Prize at the 2018 Canadian Film Festival and the award for Best Canadian Short Film at the 2018 Inside Out Film and Video Festival.

Watch a short teaser clip from The Things You Think I’m Thinking below. The film is now streaming on Dekkoo.

Author and performer E. Patrick Johnson challenges Southern stereotypes in the documentary ‘Making Sweet Tea’

Giving voice to a population too rarely acknowledged, researcher and performer E. Patrick Johnson’s 2008 novel “Sweet Tea” collected more than 60 life stories from black gay men who were born, raised and continue to live in the South.

Based on two years of ethnographic research, the book offered a window into the ways black gay men negotiate their identities, build community, maintain friendship networks and find partners – often in spaces that appear to be anti-gay.

A hit at countless film festivals around the country, the profoundly moving new documentary Making Sweet Tea follows Johnson as he travels to North Carolina, Georgia, New Orleans and Washington, D.C. in an effort to come to terms with his past and reconnect with some of the men he interviewed for the book. Johnson also transformed the book into several staged plays over the course of a decade.

Making Sweet Tea combines performance footage with interviews of the men, showing how they have changed since – and been changed by – their depictions in his book and plays. The film covers the subtle complexities of Johnson’s relationships with these men, with his family and with his hometown in North Carolina. It also restages Johnson’s performances of the men’s narratives in their homes, in their churches and at their jobs, sometimes with them directing him or even participating in the scene.

Blurring the line between art and life, Making Sweet Tea offers a glimpse into the lives of people not often given a platform to speak and demonstrates how research, artistry and real life converge.

Watch the trailer for Making Sweet Tea below. The film is now available on Dekkoo.

The line between friends and lovers gets blurred in the sexy new gay comedy ‘Shoulder Dance’

Shoulder Dance stars Matt Dallas and Rick Cosnett as Ira and Roger, two former best friends – one gay, the other straight – who have not actually seen each other in twenty-four years.

When Roger arrives unexpectedly for the weekend with his girlfriend Lilly (Maggie Geha) in tow, long suppressed desires dangerously resurface… and a wild weekend of seductive games, unraveling revelations and all-out indulgence ensues.

But as the boundaries of friendship, love and sex collide, the strength of Ira’s long-term relationship with Josh (Taylor Frey) starts getting tested like never before.

Written and directed by Jay Arnold, who previously helmed the 2011 comedy What Happens Next and produced The Big Gay Musical, Shoulder Dance won the Best LGBTQ Film and Best Supporting Actress awards and was nominated for Best Picture at 2023 Hollywood Reel Independent Film Festival.

Watch the trailer for Shoulder Dance below. The film is now streaming on Dekkoo.

Two Italian teens begin an ill-fated romance during the summer of 1982 in ‘Fireworks’

Set in Sicily in 1982, Fireworks (also know as Stranizza d’amuri) chronicles the budding romance that grows between Gianni and Nino (Samuel Segreto and Gabriele Pizzurro), two teen boys who are stuck in an era and culture that is inhospitable to their love.

Working together setting off fireworks during the summer, the two young men forge a friendship that slowly grows deeper. But when their new romantic bond is uncovered by their families, the consequences prove just as violent and tragic as the times and mores are conservative.

Based on a real-life incident that actually jump-started the Italian Gay Rights movement, and featuring sensitive performances from Segreto and Pizzurro, its two up-and-coming lead actors, this debut feature from Italian writer-director Giuseppe Fiorello is a moving and deeply felt examination of the painful moments that produce lasting political change.

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