“But when you make us into superhuman, untouchable, intangible, unreachable people, we experience animosity, you know?” “I’m glad that people want us protected,” she said.
Plus, Smith said, she believes that on some levels the trans experience has become “boring to people.” Her desire to tell the stories of trans women who had to turn to sex work came from her own experience of how difficult it can be to find employment in a world that is sometimes far from accepting. If her scenes with the women feel feel incredibly intimate, it’s because Smith related to her subjects as a trans woman herself.Ī former music producer, she says she was blackballed from the industry following her transition. “Koko’s passing really created an even higher urgency to tell this story and to release this film,” Smith added. Sadly, Smith said that were it not Koko Da Doll, “some other trans woman in Atlanta” would have been murdered, which factored into her desire to peel back the curtain on the reality of the lives of those like her – a reality that does include the possibility of violence. “She put on this whole thing of trying to be so tough and having it together, but she was the sweetest, biggest teddy bear in the whole film and her vulnerability, I was just drawn to it.”ĭaniella Carter in "Kokomo City." Magnolia Pictures “When I met Koko she cried within 30 seconds to a minute of us talking,” Smith said. Smith said it’s been “very tough” losing her even though the pair didn’t know each other prior to filming. One of the women who appears in the film, Koko Da Doll, was reportedly shot to death in Atlanta in April. It’s already won two awards at the Sundance Film Festival and made headlines, unfortunately in part due to a tragedy. The film is raw and unflinching, featuring discussions that range from the danger the women often face to the men who are secretly attracted to and patronizing them. Smith’s film does the same for Black transgender sex workers in New York City and Atlanta today. “Paris Is Burning” gave the world a glimpse into the ballroom culture in New York City, shining a spotlight on the LGBTQ+ community of the mid-to-late 1980s there. “I will never forget the first time I saw it, so for people to compare such a film to what I’ve done with my first film, I’m just blown away by that.” “I think it’s a tremendous comparison because ‘Paris Is Burning’ was so groundbreaking when it happened,” she recently told CNN. Smith couldn’t be happier about her new documentary, “Kokomo City,” being compared to 1990’s “Paris Is Burning.”
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