In 2014, D. Smith, a two-time Grammy-nominated producer, singer, and songwriter came out as a transgender woman. What she was unaware of was that living her truth meant that she would have to sacrifice her music career. After a lifelong devotion to creating music, the calls stopped coming and her source of income vanished.
The motivation to make her film debut, Kokomo City came along shortly afterwards when she realised that she needed to start from scratch. She devoted three years to this project, crashing on her friends’ couches all while developing the skills of a director, producer, cinematographer and editor.
The film is a “refreshingly unfiltered documentary that passes the mic to four Black transgender sex workers in Atlanta and New York City- Daniella Carter, Koko Da Doll. Liyah Mitchell and Dominique Silver- as they hold nothing back while breaking down the walls of their profession.”
We were lucky enough to sit down with D. to chat about how this inspiring film came to be, how she selected the women to feature in her film debut and much more.
What was it like making the transition from the music industry to the film industry for the first time?
They’re both creative processes, right? but they’re quite different and I’m always up for challenge. I think I really needed an opportunity to give myself a second chance at life if you will. I had been producing for over 15 years in the music industry and did a lot of music for a lot of great artists. Once I started to transition into female, my relationships and work opportunities just depleted so it was like my back was against the wall. I had been sleeping on couches, cars and floors for multiple years and then the idea to do Kokomo City came to me and it just felt like I was completely aligned with my purpose.
What inspired you to explore the lives of black transgender women in your film debut?
I thought as a film creator, it will be really cool to do something that’s been done before but really, it was a great opportunity for me to show what I could do as a director from my point of view. There are so many LGBT transgender films that have a template of what to do, what not to do, how to position, what not to say etc. They all have this safety net around them and it’s not really intriguing to most people. It’s informative, but it doesn’t grab you to be honest with you. I wanted to do something as a filmmaker that would set me apart but also give me the opportunity to express myself but more than anything, once I was in my situation, being homeless, I really discovered so many connections that I have with trans women.
So many times they’re overlooked, even by our own community, they’re looked down upon, they’re scrutinised, they’re discriminated against, they’re pushed out of the way swept under the rug, their stories are not told, and they don’t get opportunities that most people get because people judge them. I was drawn to them, because I thought, “Oh, my God, after everything that I’ve accomplished in my life, musically, and for me to still be in this situation, I can’t even imagine how tough it is for a trans sex worker.” I was really inspired to tell their stories.
How did you select each of the women in your film that are just so beautiful in every way?
I mean, it’s all about discovering stars and finding talent. There’s talent in what they do as far as being able to tell their story in such a way that draws people in and it’s a gift that they have to captivate people. Outside of what they do for survival, these women are extraordinary. They’re mysterious to most people, but they’re (I hate the word brave, I do!) but, they’re so confident in who they are, that this was meant for them to do this and to me in their own rights, they’re all stars. I picked them for different reasons and it was a pretty easy process, to be honest with you. It doesn’t take long to know if someone could impact people.
From your perspective behind the camera, was there anything that Daniella Carter, Koko Da Doll, Lyah Mitchell and Dominique Silver said during filming that struck a chord with you?
There was a part at the beginning where Lyah, with the gun scene, was talking about how the guy that had the gun explained that he brought it with him because a lot of trans women would blackmail guys, set them up or rob them and I was like, “damn, I don’t even think about that!” There’s this whole world between these guys and the trans women, right? We don’t even know what it takes for them to just get paid and what it takes for the guy to get his rocks off without being persecuted, embarrassed or ashamed. There’s a lot of tug between both of them and so I started to really see a deeper dichotomy between them and their clients. It’s very fascinating.
I couldn’t help but think of Paris is Burning when I was watching Kokomo City and I was wondering, did that film help influence your filmmaking in any way?
Well, to be honest no but, I love that film. When I saw it, I was a child and it scared me a little bit because I was on the precipice of really discovering who I was as an individual and a lot of those things I didn’t want to accept or to watch because I grew up thinking “this is wrong, this is wrong, this is wrong” and watching it, I had these conflicting energies “I’m so captivated by this, there’s something about this, I totally belong in this world” but being brought up in the church had me thinking “I shouldn’t be watching this.”
I wanted that effect with Kokomo City, I wanted it to be very relevant, current and fresh. I wanted to do something that really related to people today. So I guess in that sense, it was an inspiration because it was quite groundbreaking, Paris Is Burning, and it’s obviously one of the greatest film documentaries ever made. So for my work to even remotely be compared to that is very gratifying, because Paris Is Burning really cracked open a whole new audience and I think that’s what Kokomo City is going to do. It’s just gonna move the needle a little further.
The strongest element to doing a documentary, no matter what it’s about, is truth. I think telling the truth in a way that feels normal, tangible, approachable, audible, and watchable. These are very important things and I think making a protagonist human and making the subjects as human as possible and being sensitive to their environment was very top of the list for me. I wanted these girls to tell the truth and that’s why I stripped them down to no makeup. I think even for them, sometimes it was a challenge because sometimes we so often rely on those antics to distract from our trauma and our insecurities. Hats off to the girls because they really dove in and really committed.
Was the relationship between gender (particularly masculinity) and sexuality something you were keen to explore?
Yeah, because we don’t use men in telling a lot of transgender stories or queer stories, we don’t use heterosexual men, or, we don’t hear their side of the story because we’re so busy being defensive but that’s what makes it true, right? You can’t censor men but allow us to stand on the soap box with the microphone that’s not fair and that’s not appealing so I really wanted to just be myself and show people what I see. I have a lot of heterosexual friends, from basketball players to rappers, to politicians, I have personal friends in those worlds and I have great relationships with them. People just want to be friends, too it’s not always about sex and there are a lot of men that are allies for trans women and I think we need to applaud and highlight those men as well.
Do you feel as though you’ve challenged the often negative perception of trans women through the honesty of Kokomo City?
I hope so. I hope I’ve challenged a lot of people in a lot of things including filmmaking. This is my first film, and I think what was magic for me is that I didn’t know any better. I’m just gonna do what I feel. I didn’t have agents and managers and co-producers trying to tell me “Ooh, I don’t think that’s right”. Could you imagine if I had that around me? This would have been a very different film. I was doing this film with a very strong chip on my shoulder wanting to prove myself and inspire people as well.
I think there’s a new level of precedence when it comes to filming trans women or LGBT people, we’re human and I think the most dehumanising thing is to film us in any other way than the truthful way I think it’s dated and it’s boring. I think I am a really good filmmaker, but I just happen to be transgender. I’m not a transgender woman, and then a filmmaker. I’m a creative person that happens to be transgender and I think that’s how we need to look forward at us. We’re human first and what we do comes second.
I think that also ties into your filmmaker statement where you talk about “red carpet narrative”. I was wondering if you could explain that a little bit further?
It’s really underwhelming when you have organisations and PR companies that create these fortresses around us and it’s not cool when a trans woman has to be made up like Cinderella at the MET Gala or anywhere and they have to go home to a client, that is what I mean by “red carpet narrative”. Danielle Carter who’s in the film is a genius. She was on TED talks three times but you really see who she is in Kokomo City. As a filmmaker, I saw who she was on stage but afterwards, meeting her in person, I saw that this girl is a star and she should be on television, she should be in a movie or maybe she should have a bigger platform.
She said that there were times when she did other documentaries or television programs and she was on the red carpet kissing all these celebrities but she also has a client outside waiting for her because she has to pay her bills. I’m not by any means suggesting that it was anyone’s fault that she had to do that but her reality is quite different than a Hollywood celebrity. What happens is, people use trans women as characters and props a lot of times and we don’t benefit from that.
When you decided that you wanted to make your own film, was there anyone you spoke to for advice?
I was reaching out to directors, I was looking for anyone. I don’t care where you were in your experiences as a director, I was looking for you. I was looking for an established director, I was finding someone that just had no business with a camera, I was looking for anyone to direct this because me directing it was the last person on my mind. I just thought I was going to somehow direct the director but when everyone pretty much said no or didn’t reply, that drive and that urge to make Kokomo City happen became even greater and even more urgent.
The creative in me, I wish I could just put it into words and give it to people because that feeling I don’t ever want to lose. It’s this intrepid curious, I’m gonna do this feeling. You can’t pay for that and with that, I got what I needed. Someone that I was living with, that I barely knew, saw some pictures that I shot in black and white around the city and I told him I wanted to do a documentary and asked him if he could buy me a camera and a lens and he did. This person didn’t even have money he had credit and he believed in me, and I really, really appreciate that. It took people to say no, for the universe to say yes.
Interview by Elliott Salmon
Kokomo City – In cinemas 4th August.