Kokomo City

Kokomo City

25th TiDF: Greek Premiere

Kokomo City takes up a seemingly simple mantle: to present the stories of four Black transgender sex workers in New York and Georgia. Shot in striking black and white, the boldness of the facts of these women's lives and the earthquaking frankness they share complicate this enterprise, colliding the everyday with cutting social commentary and the excavation of long-dormant truths. Sharing reflections on knotty desire, far-reaching taboo, identification in labor, and gender’s many meanings, these women offer an unapologetic and cutting analysis of Black culture and society at large from a vantage point that is vibrating with energy, sex, challenge, and hard-earned wisdom. This vital portrait is the daring directorial debut of D. Smith. A veteran of the music industry and a Grammy-winner producer, singer, and songwriter, Smith brings her sonic skills into stunning harmony with a visual style whose grit and brassiness match the energy and spirit she elicits from her participants. Unfiltered, unabashed, and unapologetic, Smith and her subjects smash the trendy standard for authenticity, offering a refreshing rawness and vulnerability unconcerned with purity and politeness.

Screening Schedule

No physical screenings scheduled.


Direction: D. Smith
Cinematography: D. Smith
Editing: D. Smith
Sound: Ric Schnupp
Production: Couch Potatoe Pictures, Madison Square Films
Producers: D.Smith, Harris Doran, Bill Butler
Executive producer: Stacy Barthe, William Melillo
Format: DCP
Color: B/W
Production Country: USA
Production Year: 2023
Duration: 73'
Contact: Magnolia Pictures
Awards/Distinctions: NEXT Innovator Award (presented by Adobe), Audience Award for NEXT– Sundance FF 2023, Panorama Dokumente Audience Award – Berlin International Film Festival 2023

D. Smith

Filmography

2023 Kokomo City