Private Project

Opium Dream

A Dionysian bacchanal that conjoins the immersive pleasures of the body with the physical textures of the vegetable, fruit and floral worlds. São Paulo-based Fabio da Motta’s Shibari ropework awakens the dancers to their bodies’ sensuous powers. Once we understand the ways we are bound, we are free to enjoy the cornucopia of the world.

  • Nishchaya Gera
    Director
    Scar Tissue (2017), Look Baba I'm Happy (2019)
  • Nishchaya Gera
    Producer
  • Fabio da Motta
    Key Cast
  • Sarah Deppe
    Key Cast
  • Vincent Clavaguera
    Key Cast
  • Yohann Baran
    Key Cast
  • Jayson Batut
    Key Cast
  • Magdelaine Hodebourg
    Key Cast
  • Fabio da Motta
    Bondage Artist
  • Sarah Deppe
    Coreographers
  • Vincent Clavaguera
    Coreographers
  • Thom Neal
    Director of Photography
  • André Rodrigues
    Editor
  • Julia Suero
    Original Soundtrack Composer
  • Andreia Bertini
    Color Correction
  • Rafael Cardoso
    Sound Editor
  • Project Type:
    Documentary, Experimental, Short
  • Genres:
    Experimental, Queer, Erotic, Bondage, Kink, Dance, LGBTQ+
  • Runtime:
    13 minutes 49 seconds
  • Completion Date:
    August 31, 2025
  • Production Budget:
    12,000 EUR
  • Country of Origin:
    Belgium, United States
  • Country of Filming:
    Belgium
  • Language:
    Spanish
  • Shooting Format:
    Digital
  • Aspect Ratio:
    16:9
  • Film Color:
    Color
  • First-time Filmmaker:
    No
  • Student Project:
    No
  • Oslo/Fusion International Film Festival
    Oslo
    Norway
    September 19, 2025
    World Premiere
  • ImageOut - The Rochester LGBTQ+ Film Festival
    Rochester
    United States
    October 11, 2025
    America Premiere
  • aGLIFF / Prism Film Festival
    Austin, Texas
    United States
    October 18, 2025
  • Caminhos do Cinema Português
    Coimbra
    Portugal
    November 16, 2025
    Portuguese Premiere
    Night Shift
  • InShadow – Lisbon Screendance Festival
    Lisbon
    Portugal
    November 25, 2025
    Video Dance Competition
  • Queer Shorts Vienna
    Vienna
    Austria
    February 28, 2026
    Austrian Premiere
  • Cinedans International Dance Film Festival
    Amsterdam
    Netherlands
    March 26, 2026
    Netherlands Premiere
    Cinedans WEB
  • Porn Film Festival Vienna
    Vienna
    Austria
    April 17, 2026
Distribution Information
  • MUNA - Film Festival Distribution
    Distributor
Director Biography - Nishchaya Gera

Nishchaya Gera is a director and screenwriter currently based in Brussels. His short films have screened in over 100 film festivals worldwide and have won several awards. His first short, 'Scar Tissue', was selected as a finalist for the Iris Prize. Displacement, queerness and the sexual politics of our times are central themes in his work. He is currently working on his first feature project 'The Taj Motel', which was selected for Torino Film Labs. Nish was born in India and has lived in Udaipur, New Delhi, Mumbai, New York City, Berlin and London.

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Director Statement

‘He still retained some vague and dim recollection of the general purport of the vision, yet, all the rest had passed away like the images on the surface of a stream into which a stone has been cast.’ Like Coleridge in his reflections on Kubla Khan and the interruption of the world into the opium dream of his poetic vision, the film asks: What is pleasure?

Too often we accept the fever dream of work and its meaningless instrumental goals over the dreams we have of pleasure and immersion in our bodies’ sensuous powers. To the meditative accompaniment of The Song of Songs, one of the most ancient poems about the divinity of intimacy with the natural world and physical love, the film is an exploration of this idea: the more we consciously understand how others may want to bind us, the freer we become. And could it be that once we understand the way we are bound, the more we are able to enjoy the bacchanal of our senses and the cornucopia of the world?