The Key to Dreams

Set in a lush, otherworldly garden, The Key to Dreams opens a portal into the subconscious of performer-director Gerard X Reyes, as he ventures through the dreamy yet daunting world of queer erotic cinema. Co-starring Berlin porn icons Bishop Black and Jasko Fide, and co-directed by the inimitable Poppy Sanchez. Contains nudity and explicit sexuality.

  • Gerard X Reyes
    Director
    ECSTATIC UNITY (2022), SOLO (2023), Hunting Daze (2024)
  • Poppy Sanchez
    Director
    Tease Cake (2018), Sex Sirens (2019), ECSTATIC UNITY (2022)
  • Gerard X Reyes
    Writer
  • Pina Brutal
    Writer
    The Secret Love Life of the Urban Leopard, Hungarian Tango
  • Gerard X Reyes
    Producer
    ECSTATIC UNITY
  • Gerard X Reyes
    Key Cast
    ECSTATIC UNITY
  • Bishop Black
    Key Cast
    The Visitor, Captain Faggotron Saves The Universe, It Is Not The Pornographer That Is Perverse, At Night All The Cats Are Black, XConfessions
  • Jasko Fide
    Key Cast
    Sancta, XConfessions, Never My Love
  • Project Type:
    Experimental, Short, Other
  • Genres:
    LGBTQ, Erotic
  • Runtime:
    6 minutes 46 seconds
  • Completion Date:
    January 8, 2024
  • Production Budget:
    3,000 USD
  • Country of Origin:
    Canada
  • Country of Filming:
    Germany
  • Language:
    English
  • Shooting Format:
    Digital
  • Aspect Ratio:
    16:9
  • Film Color:
    Color
  • First-time Filmmaker:
    No
  • Student Project:
    No
  • Oslo Fusion Film Festival
    Oslo
    Norway
    September 28, 2024
    World premiere
    Official Selection
  • Vienna Porn Film Festival
    Vienna
    Austria
    April 11, 2025
    Austrian Premiere
    Official Selection
Director Biography - Gerard X Reyes, Poppy Sanchez

GERARD X REYES is a queer, multidisciplinary Uruguayan-Canadian artist based in Montréal/Tiohtià:ke, who has also lived and worked in New York, Los Angeles, Toronto, and Berlin. As a choreographer, dancer, filmmaker, certified Sexological Bodyworker, and intimacy coordinator, they interweave sensuality and intimacy into performances, installations, films, and podcasts that challenge the status quo and ignite dialogue.

A former dancer with Compagnie Marie Chouinard (2006–2013), Reyes trained with voguing legends in New York, which led to their acclaimed solo *The Principle of Pleasure* (2015), presented on international stages. Their multi-year research on intimacy culminated in the multimedia series *Public / Private Parts* (2021–23), which includes a live performance-video installation developed in collaboration with sex workers and somatic educators in Berlin. The series also features Reyes’ directorial debut with two short films (*ECSTATIC UNITY*, *The Key to Dreams*), a collection of documentary interviews, and a podcast that offer a much-needed update to the representation of modern sex work — sharing illuminating perspectives on pornography, moral censorship, sex education, and intimate practices centered on pleasure, curiosity, and trauma healing.

In 2023, the feature film *SOLO* by Sophie Dupuis, for which Reyes served as choreographer and movement coach, won the Best Canadian Feature Film Award at the Toronto International Film Festival (TIFF).

A driving force in Montreal’s Kiki Ballroom scene, Reyes has organized balls for Pride Canada and Fierté Montréal, mentored LGBTQ+ youth and artists, taught voguing classes, and collaborated with icons including Leiomy Maldonado, Danielle Polanco, Jose Xtravaganza, Twiggy Pucci Garçon, and Godfather Archie Burnett Ninja.

Reyes’ deep, embodied, and international anthropological research into underground cultures — combined with an insatiable drive for artistic experimentation — results in transformative experiences designed to be shared across the globe.

www.gerardxreyes.com

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POPPY SANCHEZ is a filmmaker originally from Amsterdam based in Berlin. She has been directing and producing erotic themed films since 2014. Her films portray intimate moments where you can lose yourself to a dreamy cinematic desire. For Poppy sex plays a significant role in the eyes of the mind, illustrating that imagination can become the biggest turn on. Poppy seems to effortlessly intertwine humour alongside sensuality in her films, because how dull would sex be without some playfulness?

Add Director Biography
Director Statement

The Key to Dreams belongs to a multimedia series entitled Public / Private Parts, directed by Gerard X Reyes in conversation and collaboration with sex workers, somatic sex educators and artists in Berlin. Through various mediums (films, live performance, video installation, documentary interviews, a podcast) the team of collaborators offer a much-needed update to the representation of modern sex work — sharing illuminating perspectives on pornography, moral censorship, sex education, and intimate practices centered on pleasure, curiosity, and trauma healing.

https://www.gerardxreyes.com/publicprivateparts

The Key to Dreams marks Reyes’ debut as an erotic film director, in collaboration with co-director Poppy Sanchez.