I know what you're thinking, and that's not it (don't worry, we thought the same at first).

But Tie Me (k)Not isn't about sexuality. It's about something far harder to talk about: the courage it takes to surrender control, to trust another human being, and to confront parts of ourselves we were taught to keep tightly bound— metaphorically, that is.

So what happens when you literally bind yourself?

For filmmaker Umut Vedat, the rope becomes a language, a way to revisit generational wounds, even the ones he didn't realize existed. Tie Me (k)Not is a rewriting of a story of fear into one of consent, breath, masculinity, and quiet transformation.

And instead of keeping that journey behind closed doors of traditional film development, Umut chose to begin in public: onchain.

Knots of Trust is the genesis NFT collection expanding the universe of the feature film Tie Me (k)Not: a series of visual and sonic fragments minted on Zora (and others), each transforming moments of intimacy into artifact— and collectors become custodians of these moments.

"The genesis collection for 'Knots of Trust' emerged from practical limitation and a creative desire... putting the first fragments onchain allowed me to partially reverse the process. Instead of developing only the film behind closed doors, the story could open itself in real time to a community that collects, supports, and shapes fragments of the journey."

Translating Shibari into visual language could so easily have become sensationalized. That's not what Umut is doing.

"Rope (Shibari) is visual, but the truth of rope is somatic. It lives in breath, micro-movements, hesitation, and surrender."

The film doesn't simply reveal bodies, but what the body remembers. Instead of depicting the physicality of being tied, Umut works with impressions: analog distortions, suspended loops of light, the emotional residue of touch rather than the spectacle of it.

The rope? It becomes a psychological threshold.

"I focus on the internal feeling... The goal was not to fetishize the act but to reveal its emotional intelligence."

To understand the emotional weight of these images, you have to open yourself up to the deeper themes driving this project: trust, control, and (to Umut's initial surprise), the rigid mold of masculinity.

During our conversation, Umut shared something unexpected: masculinity was not something he thought he'd tackle in this project. But, the deeper he went, the more he realized things about himself. His need for control, resistance to vulnerability...the quiet fear embedded in the masculine script so many are handed from birth.

Being tied— essentially naked, exposed, surrendered— forces every preconceived notion of manhood to crack open. It challenges the idea that strength is rigid, silent, and self-contained. Instead, it asks: what if strength is the ability to let go?

Shibari becomes a mirror. You're essentially materializing your fears, physically giving up control and surrendering to the point where you have no choice but to trust someone else.

What happens then? That is the story that makes up Tie Me (k)Not, and Knots of Trust launches it all.

"I was born through a traumatic delivery that nearly cost my life and my mother's...my first experience of the world was literally being pulled out by force."

That left a lifelong imprint that shaped fear, control, and masculinity for Umut. Shibari became a way to revisit that imprint intentionally, safely, and with consent. It offered a reversal, Umut said, a form of surrender that's safe rather than imposed.

Knots of Trust carries that duality: danger and softness, tension and release... and at the heart of it: trust, and choice.

Well, we've mentioned this once or twice, but the industry today essentially says "wait".

Wait for approval, wait for funding, wait for institutions to understand what you're trying to say.

Umut's project doesn't have that kind of relationship with time, nor does it fit a specific commercial mold.

"Subjects like Shibari, consent culture, kink, and intergenerational trauma are often seen as "commercial risks". Traditional funders ask for dilution: soften it, explain it, sanitize it. Onchain, no one asks for permission to be honest."

With Web3, Umut was drawn to three things: freedom, immediacy, and shared ownership.

"A filmmaker can release the first 24 frames of the film today and find support today... Collectors don't just watch the film; they literally co-own its earliest pieces. They become emotional stakeholders. They join the narrative before the world does— not just by financing it, but by having a piece of its DNA in their wallets."

That relationship between the filmmaker, the film, and the viewer becomes a living ecosystem, not a hierarchy. It's taking crowd-funding to the next level.

"I want early patrons to feel like they aren't just supporting a film— they're helping shape one."

Holders will gain access to unseen fragments, discussions around themes like vulnerability and masculinity, and collaborative onchain experiments that expand the cinematic universe. Not to control the story, Umut is clear on that, but to create resonance.

"The goal is to build a space where the emotional universe of the project expands beyond the cinema screen."

For a story built on surrender, there's something poetic about being held (or bound) creatively, spiritually, communally, by those who believed in it first.

With this project, Umut is living in a new kind of cinematic architecture: transparent, participatory, vulnerable, and defiantly honest.

Stay tuned for our TALNT Cast episode with Umut as we dive deeper into the themes of Knots of Trust!

I know what you're thinking, and that's not it (don't worry, we thought the same at first).

But Tie Me (k)Not isn't about sexuality. It's about something far harder to talk about: the courage it takes to surrender control, to trust another human being, and to confront parts of ourselves we were taught to keep tightly bound— metaphorically, that is.

So what happens when you literally bind yourself?

For filmmaker Umut Vedat, the rope becomes a language, a way to revisit generational wounds, even the ones he didn't realize existed. Tie Me (k)Not is a rewriting of a story of fear into one of consent, breath, masculinity, and quiet transformation.

And instead of keeping that journey behind closed doors of traditional film development, Umut chose to begin in public: onchain.

Knots of Trust is the genesis NFT collection expanding the universe of the feature film Tie Me (k)Not: a series of visual and sonic fragments minted on Zora (and others), each transforming moments of intimacy into artifact— and collectors become custodians of these moments.

"The genesis collection for 'Knots of Trust' emerged from practical limitation and a creative desire... putting the first fragments onchain allowed me to partially reverse the process. Instead of developing only the film behind closed doors, the story could open itself in real time to a community that collects, supports, and shapes fragments of the journey."

Translating Shibari into visual language could so easily have become sensationalized. That's not what Umut is doing.

"Rope (Shibari) is visual, but the truth of rope is somatic. It lives in breath, micro-movements, hesitation, and surrender."

The film doesn't simply reveal bodies, but what the body remembers. Instead of depicting the physicality of being tied, Umut works with impressions: analog distortions, suspended loops of light, the emotional residue of touch rather than the spectacle of it.

The rope? It becomes a psychological threshold.

"I focus on the internal feeling... The goal was not to fetishize the act but to reveal its emotional intelligence."

To understand the emotional weight of these images, you have to open yourself up to the deeper themes driving this project: trust, control, and (to Umut's initial surprise), the rigid mold of masculinity.

During our conversation, Umut shared something unexpected: masculinity was not something he thought he'd tackle in this project. But, the deeper he went, the more he realized things about himself. His need for control, resistance to vulnerability...the quiet fear embedded in the masculine script so many are handed from birth.

Being tied— essentially naked, exposed, surrendered— forces every preconceived notion of manhood to crack open. It challenges the idea that strength is rigid, silent, and self-contained. Instead, it asks: what if strength is the ability to let go?

Shibari becomes a mirror. You're essentially materializing your fears, physically giving up control and surrendering to the point where you have no choice but to trust someone else.

What happens then? That is the story that makes up Tie Me (k)Not, and Knots of Trust launches it all.

"I was born through a traumatic delivery that nearly cost my life and my mother's...my first experience of the world was literally being pulled out by force."

That left a lifelong imprint that shaped fear, control, and masculinity for Umut. Shibari became a way to revisit that imprint intentionally, safely, and with consent. It offered a reversal, Umut said, a form of surrender that's safe rather than imposed.

Knots of Trust carries that duality: danger and softness, tension and release... and at the heart of it: trust, and choice.

Well, we've mentioned this once or twice, but the industry today essentially says "wait".

Wait for approval, wait for funding, wait for institutions to understand what you're trying to say.

Umut's project doesn't have that kind of relationship with time, nor does it fit a specific commercial mold.

"Subjects like Shibari, consent culture, kink, and intergenerational trauma are often seen as "commercial risks". Traditional funders ask for dilution: soften it, explain it, sanitize it. Onchain, no one asks for permission to be honest."

With Web3, Umut was drawn to three things: freedom, immediacy, and shared ownership.

"A filmmaker can release the first 24 frames of the film today and find support today... Collectors don't just watch the film; they literally co-own its earliest pieces. They become emotional stakeholders. They join the narrative before the world does— not just by financing it, but by having a piece of its DNA in their wallets."

That relationship between the filmmaker, the film, and the viewer becomes a living ecosystem, not a hierarchy. It's taking crowd-funding to the next level.

"I want early patrons to feel like they aren't just supporting a film— they're helping shape one."

Holders will gain access to unseen fragments, discussions around themes like vulnerability and masculinity, and collaborative onchain experiments that expand the cinematic universe. Not to control the story, Umut is clear on that, but to create resonance.

"The goal is to build a space where the emotional universe of the project expands beyond the cinema screen."

For a story built on surrender, there's something poetic about being held (or bound) creatively, spiritually, communally, by those who believed in it first.

With this project, Umut is living in a new kind of cinematic architecture: transparent, participatory, vulnerable, and defiantly honest.

Stay tuned for our TALNT Cast episode with Umut as we dive deeper into the themes of Knots of Trust!