‘Tofu’ Happily Flips the Script for Transgender Community
Jordaan Sanford Movies centered on queer and transgender characters are still few and far between. And when members of these marginalized communities do make it to the screen, their stories can be suffused with a dark and somber tone.
But Nigerian film director and multimedia artist Gbenga Komolafe breaks free of those stifling conventions in his Indeed Rising Voices short “100% USDA Certified Organic Home-Made Tofu.” The film tells the whimsical tale of Nicki, a slightly bougie transgender woman living in Los Angeles who desperately needs money for breast augmentation surgery.
With no funds forthcoming from an unreliable sugar daddy, she swallows her pride, rolls up her designer sleeves and takes a job at her estranged mother’s run-down restaurant in Koreatown. “We wanted to tell a story about trans people that you don’t see often, one that really strays away from tragedy and the harsh realities of the world,” says Komolafe, who identifies as queer but not transgender. “Coming from our perspective, we see that harshness a little too often.
We don’t need to go to the movies to be reminded of that.” While Komolafe packed the film with plenty of comedy and lighthearted touches like the score’s sparkling xylophone, its plot focuses on a highly sensitive subject: Nicki’s struggle to win validation and support from her mother.
