Smithhas been on a roll the likes of which few filmmakers ever experience.
For any filmmaker, especially one making her directorial debut, thats a lot to process.
I thought after Sundance that I was going to take that moment, and its never happened.
‘Kokomo City’Magnolia Pictures/Paramount+/Showtime
Things are just moving, moving, moving.
A friend of mine always uses this term, Transparency is the new currency, Smith says.
People just arent biting or buying anything that they cant relate to anymore.
Director D. Smith attends the 2023 Sundance Film Festival premiere of ‘Kokomo City’ January 21, 2023 in Park City, Utah.Photo by Neilson Barnard/Getty Images
People really want you to put it all out on the table.
Smith cuts between the story and a reenactment of the pair tumbling down a staircase.
The client eventually fled.
Dominque, meanwhile, recounts an incident when she performed oral sex on a guy.
Afterwards, he discovered she was trans and beat her.
Violence doesnt happen before the orgasm.
It happens after, she notes.
They act out because they feel like their masculinity is threatened.
I have to shave like this.
The conversation and the subjects are intimate.
This is very rare that we get an opportunity to see such a thing, Smith observes.
I really wanted to feel like Im at a friends house or a cousins house.
And I wanted people to feel that way.
Not only to myself, but to the world around me.
I have nothing to hide, which leaves me no choice but to live free.
I do like trans women.
I like all women.
Just the fact that he would appear in the film helps destigmatize the issue.
Because theyre on this journey with us, Daniella says.
Theyre losing family, theyre losing community the same way we have.
You have two people who just want tobe, without judgment.
Theyre constantly put in the position where they have to explain why they are who they are.
In Berlin, she gave no quarter to anyone who would reject the validity of Black trans experience.
Thats how I look at it.
Its like, have your bias, have your ignorance, but how about this?
Cuz where Im at is in my truth.
Thats between you and your maker and whoever else you oughta believe in.
She says she aimed it at a particular audience.
I designed the film for Black people, Smith says.
And Ive wanted that.
And thats what they gave us [the women in the film].
You cant get blacker than this film.
So, its not an LGBT film.
