Kokomo City

What is it like to make a living from sex work as a black trans woman? With anecdotes from four funny, energetic and confident black transgender sex workers, director D. Smith illustrates the unfiltered and raw reality. What is their place in the black community? How do their mothers view them? Fictional scenes are interspersed with interviews in which nothing is withheld and the sex workers candidly break down the walls of their profession. Thanks to dynamic and smoky black-and-white images, the documentary sometimes feels like a music video portraying the women powerfully and full of life.

Kokomo City is the debut of two-time Grammy-nominated producer, singer and songwriter D. Smith, who previously made history as the first trans woman cast in a primetime TV show. Among other awards, the film won the NEXT Audience Award at the Sundance Film Festival and is a tribute to Koko Da Doll, one of the four women followed in the documentary, who was shot dead two months after its premiere at Sundance.