By Hayley Fox
July 15, 2015 :: 2:52 PM
Just a stone’s throw from Senegal, Africa, where simply being a transgender man or women could get you killed, there is a small, mysterious island where being trans is celebrated; loudly.
In documentary film TCHINDAS, directors Pablo García Pérez de Lara and Marc Serena explore the Cape Verde island of São Vicente, where the transgender community is vibrantly unapologetic and universally accepted.
“It’s where trans women are most respected and most empowered,” said Serena.
In many corners of the world, trans individuals are forced to explain themselves, their lives and their identity, but in São Vicente, people embrace each other simply because they’re neighbors sharing the same small space, Serena explained. Many of the residents have never left the confines of the island, which is only about 15 miles wide and less than 10 miles long.
“Their way of seeing the world and their way of living their lives is quite special, it’s quite unique,” said Serena.
A collage of color, light and sound, TCHINDAS documents the everyday lives of São Vicente residents, largely through the eyes of Tchinda Andrade. She came out as a transgender person in the local newspaper in 1998 and has become “one of the most beloved women in Cape Verde,” so much so that “tchinda” is now us ed as a general term to name “queer Cape Verdeans,” filmmakers say.
Andrade and the rest of her island community spend a portion of the year preparing for February’s Carnival, a massive celebration that transforms the otherwise quiet island into “Little Brazil.” They painstakingly assemble flirty and feathered costumes for the parade, build floats, and prepare the quaint island for the thousands who flock to Carnival.
“We see how an whole island works together to make something beautiful out of nothing,” said Serena.
If the São Vicente community doesn’t sound magical enough as is, the people on the island also speak the largely unknown language of Cape Verdean Creole, of which there is no dictionary for and no way to write it, said Serena.
Filmmakers hope TCHINDAS empowers LGBT communities in Africa by providing them with transgender role models from their own country. While the U.S. has Caitlyn Jenner and Laverne Cox, transgender issues have yet to take an international stage in Africa.
“TCHINDAS” makes its world premiere on Wednesday at Outfest.