D. Smith Kokomo City
In deze wilde, verfrissende en ongefilterde docu geeft filmmaker D. Smith het woord aan vier Zwarte transgender sekswerkers in Atlanta en New York City – Daniella Carter, Koko Da Doll, Liyah Mitchell, and Dominique Silver – die een zonder pardon de muren rond hun beroep doorbreken.
KOKOMO CITY
D. Smith, US, 2023, 73min
in English with French subtitles
This vital portrait, edited and shot by Smith in bold black and white, is her feature directorial debut. Holding nothing back, the film vibrates with energy, sex, challenge, and hard-earned wisdom.
about
D. SMITH (director, editor, cinematographer, producer) is a two-time Grammy nominated producer, singer, and songwriter and is now making her film debut as a director of the documentary Kokomo City.
Smith’s father was a world-renowned drummer, and she wrote her first song at 10 years-old for the choir at church in Miami, Florida. After coming out to her father as a teen, Smith was kicked out her house and was taken in by a church member. After graduating High School, Smith used the last of her money on a one way bus ticket to New York City. She then began singing in the subway where she was first discovered, and went on to produce “Shoot Me Down” for Lil Wayne’s Carter III album which went 8 times platinum. Cee-lo Green, Katy Perry, Andre 3000, Timbaland, and Marc Ronson are some of the long list of music industry heavyweights Smith worked with.
Until 2014, when Smith decided to transition into the woman she always knew she was. She was unaware that living in her truth meant that she would have to sacrifice the thing she loved the most, which was making music for a living. People stopped calling. And eventually after running out of money and options, she knew she had to move on from the life she once knew.
The silver lining came with the creation of Kokomo City. She devoted almost 3 years to it while crashing on different friends’ couches, all the while diving into the lives of four trans women who had a story to tell. Smith was over the moon to receive the call that “Kokomo City” was to premiere at the Sundance Film Festival 2023, where the film won both the NEXT Innovator and Audience Awards. A few weeks later it also won the Berlinale’s Audience Award in the Panorama Documentary section.
