In a year that has seen at least 14 trans and non-binary people lost to violence in the US, it’s refreshing to watch Kokomo City and see our main characters, four trans women who happen to be sex workers, smile, laugh and kiki.
But the high of watching this documentary, a highly stylised, black-and-white look into the lives of these women and a few of the cis men that exist in their orbit, has been overtaken by tragedy – the murder of Rasheeda Williams, or Koko da Doll, one of the film’s protagonists, in April of this year.
“I never wanted to deal with anything like this,” says D Smith, the film’s director. “I wanted to show trans women”
