In Karim Z's imagination, it all started in Rio de Janeiro.
There was sun, sand and plenty of skin. Beautiful people cavorted along the beach while the sounds of bossa nova, rock and electronic music washed over scenes of sex and excess. The performers would be Brazilian, the dialogue would be in Portuguese and music would drive the action as much as anything happening on screen.
He even had a name for it: "Rio Reina."
There were just a few problems. Karim had never made an adult movie; he had no real connections in the industry, and before he could make his fantasy a reality, he still had one very important person to win over: his wife.
"I had been obsessing about making 'Reina Reborn' for close to two years," he recalls. "The first big hurdle was getting my wife's consent. She's not a fan of adult content, and she thought I was either joking or insane. I was the latter."
What followed was nearly as winding as one of the interconnected storylines Karim would eventually put on screen. An attempt to produce the movie in Brazil proved impractical. Outreach to members of the U.S. adult industry went largely unanswered. A prospective partnership with a custom video producer fell apart.
Then, almost by accident, Karim found award-winning director and performer Michael Vegas.
Karim had contacted Vegas while trying to verify another producer's credentials. Vegas didn't have the answer he was looking for, but he was intrigued by the ambitious movie the aspiring director described. He sent Karim examples of his own work, which Karim somehow overlooked for about a month.
When he finally watched them, everything clicked.
"I was blown away and realized that Michael was exactly who I needed to realize this vision," Karim affirms.
Vegas and his partner Siouxsie Q came aboard as producers, with Karim directing. As "Rio Reina" became "Reina Reborn," his fantasy grew into Reborn Cinema – a new studio where hardcore filmmaking moves to the rhythm of music videos, borrows the swagger of his favorite movies and carries the soul of Brazil, where it all began.
A Different Rhythm
As Karim imagined what his debut film could be, one question kept resurfacing: Would viewers stay with a hardcore film for the full 90 minutes?
"I hoped that, by editing the sex scenes down to the length of a song and making the audio dominated by music, I could make an engaging and entertaining film from beginning to end," he explains.
The result brings a dozen characters together across 10 interconnected chapters, their desires colliding to a soundtrack that moves from bossa nova to rock, drum and bass and alternative music. Fourteen original songs by Lucas Hickory and various artists add to the film's pulse.
"The music I envisioned inspired the film more than the other way around. I wanted to expand people's minds about what type of music works with hardcore content. I feel so many different styles can work with sex scenes and sex and music go hand-in-hand," Karim says.
He drew further inspiration from the quick cuts and propulsive soundtracks of Guy Ritchie's "Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels" and "Snatch." One scene in particular gave him the idea that started it all.
"The opening scene of the film, 'The Feast,' was the core of the original idea," Karim recalls. "Originally, I just wanted to make a single music video inspired by the drinking scene in 'Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels,' but instead of gorging on alcohol, it would be gorging on cock."
That single music-video idea grew into a feature filled with intertwined stories, where bursts of dialogue give way to sex scenes driven by sound. As the vision grew, Karim decided to give it everything he had.
"If I was going to do this, take this one shot at doing something that's never been done before in the space, I had to give it my all and try to do everything I wanted to do," he says.
Building the Ensemble
For nearly two years, "Reina Reborn" lived inside Karim's imagination, and bringing it to the screen meant finding performers who could make its 12 interconnected characters their own. He researched the cast closely, even watching interviews to learn who they were beyond their on-screen work.
"It definitely wasn't just about them being as incredibly sexy as they are," he says. "I was looking for true artists, with authenticity, pride and passion for their careers."
Valentina Nappi stars as Reina, alongside Nicole Kitt, Lulu Chu, Maya Woulfe, Scarlett Alexis, Alex Jones, Charles Dera, Isiah Maxwell, Michael Vegas, Nathan Bronson, Ricky Johnson and Vince Karter.
Working with that ensemble changed how Karim saw the film he had spent so long planning.
"It was really my first experience working on a creative project that involved so much talent and seeing how it wasn't just my creative vision that would create the finished product," he says.
With Vegas and Siouxsie Q helping bring his vision to life, Karim saw how much the cast and crew could add to the world he had imagined. Now he wants to keep playing in that world, starting with a possible follow-up for one of its characters.
“It’s a sequel scene centering on Nicole Kitt’s character, Luana, as she searches for the right dress at a bridal boutique with her friends, where things unexpectedly unfold into a super hot scene,” Karim teases.
Make Some Noise
Karim has another idea for Reborn Cinema: licensing adult scenes he loves and re-editing them around music to see what a new soundtrack might reveal.
It's a long way from the Brazilian beaches where he first imagined "Rio Reina." The location, language and title changed as the fantasy became "Reina Reborn," but its soul survived. Karim hopes the attention it draws can travel beyond the screen, too. Climate change awareness has been part of his vision for the studio from the beginning.
"The idea with 'Reina Reborn' from the beginning was that we could use it to raise money and make some noise about climate change," he explains. "I wanted to attempt to make the greatest adult film of all time because I thought that would get people's attention to say, 'What's behind this?'"
Karim says he donated $10,000 to climate-related efforts before the film's release and has pledged 50% of net proceeds from each Reborn Cinema subscription to the cause. He also writes about climate policy, clean energy and food systems on the studio's blog, where he's candid about his own imperfections. He hopes viewers who enjoy the fantasy will be curious about what matters to him beyond it.
"We didn't want to shove it down people's throats when they just came to see a great adult film," he says. "But the message is there for those who look just a little below the surface."
