Original subtitles

In memory of Tatiana...

Woubis have great radar. They know exactly where to find each other.

- Whether in Europe, America... - Or here in Adjame.

Ghettos or not, Woubis always manage to have their hideouts.

They're like bats, they live hidden.

They move in groups, like birds nesting in the trees.

They gather bit by bit, and you don't see them

till suddenly the tree is teeming with them

That's woubis for you.

- Morning, Madame. - Hi, little sister.

How are you, Madame? All right, darling?

My husband throws me into the streets.

You love that, it'll kill you.

I'm tired...

I'm in town.

We're preparing a big party for Christmas, on the 25th.

A big Djémé, Saba Internationale in Bingerville, with the girls.

I'll send you invites.

How was your evening? I spent it here and there.

- Lots of yossis round these days. - Yeah, yossis have hit town.

Sometimes you have to rest, so I stayed home last night.

- You look well. - Thank you.

I'm sure you've got the Yopougon yossis under control.

Now and then I do, because I'm settling down.

Tantie... Barbara the singer, the star of Abidjan.

first met Barbara at Garo's, as ar blooming little girl,

in trousers and something long-sleeved, with a neat hairdo.

I said: "Hi, girlie, how are you?" And that's how it all started.

Nowadays, woubis and bats are out of the closet.

It's a different community. They act and live differently.

Things have changed. She gets "Toussou Bakari?

How can she? It's a coded language.

We have our own lingo, our own dictionary.

So, when we say woubis: woubis are boys

who play the role of women without being transvestite.

Boys who like men.

Sitting opposite you have two woubis.

I'm a transvestite. It's special. But I'm still called a woubi,

insofar as I'm a boy who behaves like a woman

Then there are yossis: boys who sleep with women,

transvestites and homosexuals. They play the man.

They're the woubis husbands.

If you say: "Toussou Bakari"... "Toussou" means woman,

like you Tantie, you're a Toussou, so you're a woman.

But "Toussou Bakari" means: a woman who loves women.

Think you'll remember? That's how we'll be talking.

I'm ready for it...

Someone might ask: are there any yossis here or just controus?

Controus are hostile to both woubis and yossis.

They're down on them.

They can't understand two people of the same sex loving each other,

how they can make love and stuff, as if you had to understand!

You can only get it in bed!

You have to live it.

I left Burkina to come here for many reasons...

I came from Burkina to earn some money

to take home.

I didn't come here for a life of pleasure in Abidjan

but in the hope of a better life.

And also because of my mother's death.

I see a misunderstanding with someone.

A man, it seems...

- True or not? - Yes, true

You must make an offering of 43-fritters.

Offer them in sacrifice

that both of you be blessed.

Then you will enjoy prosperity, good health

and friendship with that person again.

If someone loves you and adopts you

like a son or a relation

it's because life is too tough

and what we say or do is not to everyone's liking.

I have no family here.

We've only got each other.

We have no other family.

I have no one, and neither does he.

We both support each other.

I adopted him as my son.

You understand?

God willing...

and if I do not die too soon

we will always be together.

Only death can separate us.

Death is the end.

It's thanks to my sister that I met Vincent.

One day she took me to Koumassi.

I went out of curiosity.

And there I met Vincent.

First off, it was a bit awkward.

After, I said to my sister, I met Vincent and I like him.

Before that...

I'd been out with woubis.

And then I saw Vincent and I fell for him.

What I liked about him was his way of speaking.

I liked the way he teased me,

I like to be teased by my wife.

I really liked that, that's how he got me hooked.

Me, I either like people or I don't like them.

I liked him straight off.

They called me every name under the sun.

I fell out with those who were against our relationship.

Some people won't even talk to me.

But I continued to see him.

If someone says they love you, you have to rot where he dies.

I'll always love him, unless he decides to go.

Even when I sleep, I dream of him. So I say to myself...

Did Vincent put something in the food to make me lovesick?

I mean, I was raving with love!

One day, I cast the cowries

and they told me I was going to meet him.

and ten days later I met him.

If you find a yossi, don't let him go

If the cowries say he's not a yossi,

Drop him. Otherwise, you continue.

You guys are funny!

If you get on well, continue.

It's hard living with a seer as he knows everything you do.

People speak to him, but he sees.

Since we met, he's never hurt me.

Sure, we have arguments...

That's only normal...

That's natural, you can't avoid it.

Listen to what I'm saying.

Brahima Ba, listen to me.

I told your brother and I'll tell you too.

I gave birth to you

thanks to my father and mother

who introduced me to your father

who never hurt me.

He loved me as I loved him. You were born of this love.

Today, your father is no more

and I worry that you are jobless.

I know work is difficult to find.

That is why, in my daily prayers

I ask God to help you to find work...

You must understand that we are poor

and that if you do not work we will have nothing.

So please do not act foolishly.

We are poor, my children.

Have you understood me, son?

When I was twelve or thirteen.

I began to know what it meant to love.

I would sit down in a quiet corner somewhere, and cry.

Why? Because I felt, different from the other boys around.

I was born a boy. So how come I liked what girls liked?

One day, I didn't want to go to school anymore

and my dad told me his brother, a mechanic, had a garage

and that he'd have a job for me

as an apprentice mechanic

I thought I'd get fall dirty.

It was a man's job, didn't want to.

I bravely told him: "Dad, I can't"...

He asked me what I wanted to do. I liked hairdressing

But I couldn't get such words out of my mouth.

My family knows I'm gay,

but they don't mind.

There are times when I'm not so busy with the patisserie

when my sister asks me to cook for the family.

And when I do everyone is happy.

When I'm used to someone I find it hard to change.

I like sticking to the same person.

We know each other quite well now, so everything's fine.

Yet, in the beginning it was quite hard.

I didn't know who Laurent was, he didn't know who I was.

But we're over that. Now we both know what the other doesn't like...

Everything's working now.

My problem, though, is that I'm real jealous.

Even if he talks to a woman, it gets me all worked up...

I like to tease him like that.

What impressed me about Laurent was his sense of respect.

No matter what, we were born men.

- And we have to assert that. - I feel like a woman.

Everyone must know that first.

I mean we all have our vices...

If I take Laurent to a little family gathering in my village

- people will look at us both... - I'll be some happy woubi!

He uses all kinds of cosmetics on his face...

That does me no honour

Despite my present situation I'm still respected by my family.

Okay, no cosmetics. But once there, I'll play it up!

The only thing I want from you is a wedding ring!

That day, I'll make a huge cake for all the woubis of Abidjan.

Right now, I'm not ready to sleep with a woman

and have children. I don't even dream of it.

But him, my yossi, he goes out with women

because he needs to have a family for the future...

And maybe I'll be able to live a family life

through him.

Yes, Boss.

Who's the teacher? You or me?

I'm the boss.

You're the apprentice.

You're yossis, that's for sure...

because you live amongst woubis.

But do people know you're yossis?

And how do people look at you in the neighbourhood?

Me, personally, in my neighbourhood,

I refuse categorically to be labelled...

I want secrecy.

I intend to get married to a woubi...

For sure. I mean it...

But for the moment I'm going out with a woman...

and there are occasional slips, know what I mean?

But does your woubi come here?

I'm in control, he comes to my place.

What do folks think of your woubi?

Well, one night, I introduced him to some friends over a drink.

Some already knew he was a woubi. I swear!

The guys started labelling me, but I stopped them short.

"Fuck you!"... I said.

There's one thing I have to say: He's got a kid.

Sure have.

- We were pals when it was born. - Yeah, we used to work together.

- You were already a yossi? - Still am till proved otherwise.

- I even know his wife. - Been with a woubi before?

Loads! Well, I handled it, I managed a woubi...

To be honest, it was something I didn't like at first...

I thought, maybe they're pariahs and should be rejected as such.

A friend of my older brother is a woubi.

We didn't know at the time, he used to hang out with my brother.

He even chatted him up!

Well, one day he came to my school-and said:

"One of my friends has left me his place for a few days

You want to come with me?"

So I go with him, and I'm cool, you know...

I never thought for a minute anything weird might happen.

So, one night

I'm sleeping and I feel this hand roving over my foot.

It woke me up.

I figured, he's doing what a woman might do to me

so I let him continue..

until we climaxed.

But that first experience was really fruitful.

It was the first time I'd ever slept with a man.

Yossis are bisexual. Boys who usually sleep with girls.

If they sleep with a boy they don't think of it as such

because for them woubis are like girls.

You must look a little like a girl for a yossi to get it up for you.

But you always have to teach them especially in small towns.

It's always the same, as soon as they start feeling you up...

I wanna make love to you. What a man I am!

I used to say to myself: "So, I'm a bit effeminate

but it'll pass in time.

I'll surely grow up and love women like my older brothers do"...

But from the day it triggered in my head,

my heart started beating like crazy for boys. It was scary.

I remember, it was really scary.

You feel all alone, and you don't dare tell anyone.

You've no one like you that you can turn to.

No yossis who might reassure you. It's scary.

You think of the scandal it might cause, and all that.

Still, you get used to it. You find others like you

and get organised.

I met my first people... I met Ferdinand.

It was the first time I'd ever seen queens like that.

Older than me, truly organised, speaking a language I understood.

It was wonderful!

I wanted to grow up quick and be like them.

I was still living with my folks, whereas they were having a ball.

It was different from now.

Maybe because they weren't as up front about it...

It was kind of more subtle...

more hidden... And when they had yossis

they were real nice yossis, not like today

with their ulterior motives.

Back then, when you had a yossi, he was yours, the real thing.

They were great. They still are,

but they used to have a certain way of life, way of doing,

which was fabulous.

It was like a new family for me, we could be what we wanted.

So you forgot your original family.

Your real family was the one you had created.

Nobody had anything to hide.

Nobody asked you: "Why are you like that?"

We felt comfortable. We could do as we liked.

I mix a lot with straight people.

Because I sometimes get tired of being only with homosexuals.

What I really love is when everyone is mixed:

straights, gays, bisexuals, all having fun together.

Like in certain night-clubs for instance...

It's really wild. That's the third millennium!

Here in Africa, you don't live love.

You only live shit, self interest.

People try to deceive you but that's no good.

But you have to accept these things.

I haven't yet met a man who can love a woubi,

whereas a woubi can love a yossi to death...

For me now, love doesn't exist. I stripped my heart of all that.

Of course, it'll creep back to me like an insect.

There is no love for me now. Even Barbara once deceived me.

My yossi sent Barbara a rose.

I was so shocked I stopped seeing him on the spot.

I thought I'd make a few bucks whoring

and that's what I did.

I have my own furnished place thanks to whoring...

I say, thank God for whoring!

I'm not complaining, not at all.

I ask myself: What's my problem?

And the answer is: Vice.

If the person I'm with can handle my vice

then I can get on with that person.

But people who go on about us, can't stand them.

Prevention is better than cure, so I don't frequent those

who don't share my sexual tastes.

prefer being with my own, stick to my milieu.

If I feel you're reticent with me I prefer not to talk to you.

It's better that way.

Because reaching out to you means I miss you

whereas the only person I can miss on earth is God.

No one apart from God...

So, whether you like me or not is not my problem.

As long as God loves me and my mother loves me, that's enough.

One morning the girls came round saying they had a project.

"What is it?", I said.

"We're transvestites,

we live well here in Ivory Coast, so we must set up an association."

That day, Tatiana was there. She became general secretary.

And there was Tina, who was really motivated.

It was they who spoke to me about it!

And after, Bibiche, Cadi and the others...

I was immediately appointed President of the ICTA...

Ivory Coast Transvestite Association.

We're here today for a cause, to organise something...

maybe a party somewhere. But as we're "different"

we'll have to organise it somewhere out of the way.

So this meeting is so each of you can suggest

where to hold it.

Because the others spoke of doing it in Treichville.

In Treichville! That's too scary.

Like walking into the lion's den.

No dancing, just fighting.

No sooner would the drums be heard

than we'd have a whole gang of brigands and crazies on our backs!

The whole lot of them giving us lip.

We can't go to Bassam. There's too much sand

No good for dancing.

How about the old lady's in Bingerville?

Okay, the old lady's in Bingerville.

- Starting at midday and ending... - At five.

- No, later Around 10 p.m. - All right.

It will be a riot, no small djeme.

There'll be lots of people, husbands, friends, guests...

- How many husbands you bringing? - Three.

Trigamy!

"Big mandingue matinee...

The Transvestite Association invites you

on December 27th, 1997

from 2 p.m. followed by a big djémé dinner

at Bingerville.

Come see the Malian women singers and Saba dancers from Senegal."

Frankly, the first party we threw was a total flop.

Journalists gate crashed taking pictures for the local papers.

So as a result, when we organise parties now

people are scared, they don't want to come.

So that's why now we keep them secret.

If woubis don't even come, forget about controus!

Politically, we went all the way to the Minister of Communications.

She told us it wasn't normal. It's a democratic country

and that, if we wanted to lodge a complaint against that newspaper

we were entitled to do so.

That's what she told us.

Nowadays, people know there are transvestites in the Ivory Coast

and some people are beginning to respect us.

Because, before...

those who tried to deal with the issue

didn't know where to turn.

The ICTA has helped us a lot.

The year's coming to an end and we're scattered left and right

so we're trying to organise a bash in Bingerville,

a big djémé...

As you live near Abidjan, we came here to tell you about it.

So come and join in the fun.

We'll leave you 5 invites for the others.

Tell them we dropped by.

We'll be expecting you.

A perfect yossi...

is a man who lives with his queen, his wife...

He lives with her whether she's rich or poor,

through good times and bad...

And he asserts himself as her husband wherever they are.

Because, it's not easy for us going out in the daytime...

They throw stones at us, insult us.

If you're with an imperfect man, he'll hide...

he'll shun his responsibilities.

A perfect yossi is someone who asserts himself totally.

It must be said, it isn't easy for us here in Africa...

We've got to keep trying.

If we have to live in hiding all the time it won't get any better.

People here think transvestites

are nothing but gangsters. But we're not.

That's just how we were born.

We didn't buy woubia in the market place.

If so, no one would have chosen to be what we are today...

It's the way we are up here and that's the way we live.

But I think parents, friends, neighbours...

all those who can't stand us,

should make an effort. They have their vision of life

and we have ours.

We can't help it, it's our right to be different.

Without the right to be different, Africa is going nowhere.

Almost finished, Bibiche...

It'll be pretty, Bibiche.

Did they say you were a girl or a boy?

They're discussing as to whether I'm a girl or a boy. I'm a woman!

Do I have to spell it out?

- Where did we see that fabric. - Near here, I think.

We're organising a big djémé with Saba dancing.

It'll be a riot! I have the invites.

You coming?

If I give you one, you'd better come.

It's a special invitation card.

Try it on.

You're a real boy.

He's a real boy, he's not ashamed

You'll try, no?

I love him through good and bad.

He even asked me to marry him, but I hesitated.

It was he who asked me.

He wanted to meet my parents,

at my aunt's place.

If two men live together it's because God wanted.

Otherwise it's not possible.

He told me that when he finds work

he'll get a house in Cocody where we'll live together.

I love Avelido, I love him a lot.

But what hurts me is...

every time he sees other boys...

he chats them up and that hurts me.

I do battle every day, when I'm out and about..

I spread my magic powder

to change controus into yossis

toussous into lesbians!

I promote woubia.

I like that, the good and the bad all mixed up

Africa is a strange place.

Like the Ivory Coast, it's my country,

I need to be here to speak my own language.

There are so many controus there's always work to be done.

So many towns, in which to spread the word.

It's like cleaning a house

that's constantly dirty. You just have to keep cleaning.

The future of this country lies in agriculture.

Planting the tree, the baobab of the woubis,

in Gagnoa!

If you don't like me as I am, then forget about it!

Hi...

Has its belly been cleaned?

Is the sauce ready?

Get home safely last night?

You had to keep saying it before we believed you.

I mean, she didn't believe you.

I saw it so I believed it.

I didn't believe it, really didn't.

It was the first time I'd ever heard that.

So I thought about it all night long

I thought a lot about it.

I'm not easily accepted.

I have to work three times harder than normal people

to assert myself, because I want to be taken as I am.

I want people to know immediately and not sit down with them

and maybe they find out later.

I want people to know and understand who I am.

So they can either take me or leave me.

See how she goes about it? She plays it up.

She knows how to assert herself

whoever she's with.

Well, take us... If a man tells us he's normal

we always find fault with him.

There are those who'll accept and those who won't

You have to try.

If I was hung up about it you'd be more hung up about me.

If I behave freely you'll feel free with me.

You may not understand but you're relaxed, and you're here with me.

Because of how I am, here we are having a drink together.

- That's it. - The side of you we like.

One can't change her...

That's just how she is

But I'm sure it must've been tough for her in the beginning.

was aware very young of what I was and wanted to be,

and how.

I often think of those I don't know as the opposing community.

I get into battle gear and I'm ready for you.

Here I am, blabbering on, muddling you up, having fun.

You're surprised, and I seem more surprised than you.

But that's how I am, I'm a persona.

It's like Marahoué Park where people come to see the animals:

The hippos, the snakes... People gape like you do at me.

Only you can't put me in the park!

There's lots of stuff...

what people call "sexual deviances".

Meaning whatever is supposedly not natural.

A man is supposed to love a woman.

Yet, some men love men, women love other women.

A woman loves a man and another woman.

A woman loves a woman who loves a man.

A man loves a man who loves another man."

It's all mixed up. They're just theories...

Let them teach that in university!

So much for superior thinking!

But how do you make love with a man?

Imagine you're a boy and you want to make love to me.

First you'll start feeling me up...

But where'll you put your penis?

If not between my legs, then where?

The back door!

But it must be painful.

Hurt? Do you get hurt when you're made love to?

But that's natural, God made it so.

Controus talk! It's natural too. It's been planned that way.

If your way is natural, my way is too.

It's like liquids. They take the shape of their containers.

Fannies take the shape of willies.

She thinks the other way round must have its drawbacks.

And to do it you really have to look after yourself...

There are sizes you have to be wary of.

If the willy is too big and you're not too experienced

don't try to force it into you.

It could make you dizzy, cause complications.

When he comes inside you, does it come out again?

Of course it comes out.

You, woman, are going to kill us!

And there are rubbers too! They're not made for birds!

If one day you have a kid who's like that...

Like Barbara?

I know you don't choose these things...

Nature does it for you.

If I had a kid like that, it might be hard to accept at first...

But if that's how things are there's nothing you can do.

What I'm asking is, will you have a child later on?

I'm much too busy as President of the Bats' Association

to play mothers at night...

The enemy is out there, I have to load my guns and fight.

The President can't be looking after baby

otherwise the opposition will get the upper hand.

I whave to convince them like I did you.

To sit down peacefully with people

even if they're reticent, and talk

working towards acceptance and understanding.

I put forward my transvestite side, my physique, my persona...

Barbara the legend...

What she is, what she does, how she's lived her life.

Barbara the boy who made herself a woman

in spite of all those who tried to make me normal.

I want to be a good boy

when I feel like it...

a bad girl when I like, free to do as I like.

Able to live my nature as a transvestite

and have all kinds of experiences.

You have to be creative, live life like an artist.

You can't always be down-to-earth.

Tradition is fine, but you have to be in between.

I think that's what the third millennium will be all about...

a mix of modern and traditional, different ways of life and sex.

There are deviances of course...

We got off the beaten track, so where's the problem?

Hurry up, folks are hungry.

I'm hungry too, I didn't have breakfast.

I haven't seen you in the kitchen.

I haven't eaten a thing.

Mom I knew you were going to cook,

so I didn't eat

Usually, I have bread, butter, grenadine and chocolate.

I've come to terms with my nature and I'm proud of it.

Not just physically, but because it's so different.

I need people to know what I'm like, that my fight be known.

That's why I do it. Why I won't go as far as being a transsexual.

People can't understand what it is to be a homosexual.

You're just a boy who loves a boy.

You find a boy you love...

You're true to your real nature and you're happy.

And at the same time you live out your difference from others.

I don't like the simple way, I'm a Scorpio.

I think if I'd been a woman I'd have been a lesbian.

I think so...

Now, I'm ready!

Oh, my lipstick, honestly...

Playing at cruising here?

I'm a bat I'm not afraid of that.

What do you think?

I'm waiting for you...

You devil!

There are people who...

were born for something. But they hide it.

And by dint of hiding, and hiding...

they lose the courage to show themselves....

They condemn themselves.

But if from the beginning you say that's how I am, I won't change....

Let people take me or leave me, it's not my problem...

One is liked for what one is and disliked for what one is not.

People are not born good or bad. We can live with our differences.

Why reject one's fellow man?

One is liked for what one is, and rejected for what one is too.

We're all up-front, so there's no problem.

We've got faith in this country...

Why be afraid here? We've got faith.

- Khorogolais yossis goulale ba! - Khorogolais what?

Real boys, well hung.

Barbara, who's sitting there before you...

is like a double-edged knife.

You see this knife?

It's sharp here, and sharp there...

So, Barbara who you see here...

who is sitting here as a woman...

has another side to her.

I'm a boy like you.

We're no scholars but we can see Barbara is a sophisticated lady.

Just tell them I'm a boy. I'm a boy.

Barbara's not a woman, she's a boy.

Stand up so we can see you.

I'm not sure I understood your description of Barbara.

So who is Barbara, really? What is she?

As I said, you don't need to use

a microscope to find out who Barbara is.

Barbara sitting opposite is a man.

I go to Abidjan every day.

Every day? You're rascals, afraid of nothing.

I'm asking what you really think, not to feel sorry for me.

But for what's at the bottom of your hearts!

"To you my love, far away, who every day stirs my heart."

Dreams of love, Barbara, Tiens ça...