Ex-Dominatrix: A True Story, Darren Cavanagh’s documentary about legendary Belgian domina Goddess Ira (aka Lucrezia) is close to completion. And we’ve had a sneak preview of the latest version, now near enough finished for us to give the film its first, exclusive review right here on The Fetishistas.

After an Indiegogo campaign to crowdfund the final stages of production, Cavanagh’s first feature-length project was originally slated for release in autumn 2016.

But having already spent five years and a shed-load of his own money on it, the director was loath to put it out before he could finance some additional polishing to achieve the final quality he really wanted.

Has the extra waiting time been worth it? I think it has. With Ex-Dominatrix, Cavanagh presents a stimulating insight into the life of a top professional dominatrix. He includes lots of glimpses of the lady in character and in action that will be both entertaining and informative for fetish audiences.

But his film is also a fascinating human story from a world that is rarely treated with much sympathy or understanding by mainstream media.

His determination to create a film with high cinematic production values (including a great soundtrack by Noko) means Ex-Dominatrix: A True Story should impress regular cinema audiences but also do well in the documentary sections of serious film festivals.

As followers of our earlier reports on the project will already know, the film sets out to tell the truth about — and explore the consequences of — an unfortunate event that befell the domina in 2010.

As the film’s narrative makes clear before the main titles have even appeared on the screen, that was the year Ira found herself facing a possible murder charge following a tragic accident at her Antwerp studio.

But having whetted the viewer’s appetite with this promise of drama to come, Cavanagh’s film then takes us back in time to paint a picture of Ira’s early life. He does this by way of photos and movie clips, contextualised by interview snippets from various people who know her, all of whom attest to the specialness of her character.

Ira herself is the film’s chief narrator. But among the many other voices we hear are those of family, friends, clients, clients who have become friends, and other dominas.

After a brief jump to more recent times and a glimpse of Ira’s current life in Goa, Ex-Dominatrix continues to build up its picture of her earlier life, from school days when she was already exhibiting a taste for being in charge, through various jobs including that of a horse trainer, to her decision, aged 30, to embark on a new career… as a man trainer!

She might have realised a little later than some that by becoming a professional mistress, she could make a good living out of her striking looks and naturally dominant disposition. But once the idea had taken hold, she made up for lost time pretty quickly.