CURRENTLY IN PRODUCTION

TRADE A FEATURE DOCUMENTARY

Name: TRADE
Director: Emmanuele Allamani
Genre: Documentary, LGBTQ+

“Why do we keep loving men who can only love us in secret?”

Every night in Oakland, men of all walks of life slip away from their public lives to meet women they can never acknowledge. These are not affairs or casual encounters, but profound intimacies that exist in the shadows, between people whose identity categories appear constructed in opposition to each other.

Three trans women turn cameras on their “trade,” the men who love them only in private. What begins as a portrait of hidden love becomes an investigation into desire, masculinity, and the cost of living split lives.

Fiscally Sponsored by BAVC Media · Supported by UnionDocs and the City of Berkeley Artist Fund

THE STORY

The word “trade” is a colloquialism used by trans women to name men who maintain heterosexual personas while seeking trans women in private. Sometimes these relationships are tender, sustaining, and real; other times, they are transactional, exploitative, or violent. The term itself carries tension: it suggests exchange, secrecy, and danger, but also a particular form of desire that has persisted across time and place.

Identity categories become traps for everyone caught within them: the men live split between who they are and who they are told they should be, the women live in a world that simultaneously fetishizes and erases them. Yet these are also fugitive intimacies that reveal identity as contested ground: what happens when people pursue recognition across the very boundaries those categories were built to maintain.

Historically, queer cinema has examined “trade” regarding gay men, but little attention addresses trans women’s relationships with straight men. These relationships raise a provocative question: are men who date trans women part of the queer community?

TRADE does not seek to resolve the contradictions of secrecy and desire, but to illuminate them. To hold the complexity without losing sight of the power, and the violence, that lives behind men’s choice to love only in private.

“Why do we keep loving men who can only love us in secret?”

WHERE WE ARE

We’re in active production across Oakland and the Bay Area, with over 20 hours of intimate vérité footage and a proof of concept assembled with editor Pamela Martinez. Three participants are confirmed and the next phase of filming is underway.

WHAT'S NEXT

Launch the participatory investigation: train collaborators in interview technique, begin filming men’s interviews, and shoot the critical collective scene. Deepen individual arcs and build toward assembly.

WHERE IT'S GOING

TRADE aims to shift the conversation around trans lives, desire, and intimacy. Beyond festivals, we’re planning community screenings, university partnerships, and an impact campaign that centers the communities who shaped the film.

WHAT WE NEED

Production funding for participant stipends, interview training, filming equipment, and crew. We’re also seeking executive producers, mentors, and community partners who believe in collaborative filmmaking.

THE TEAM

When I first moved to Oakland at thirteen, my closest friends were men I now understand as “trade.” Discovering that many are now the secret partners of my trans friends brings this tension to the forefront.

Director Emmanuele Allamani Filmmaker and anthropologist, raised between Italy and Bay Area. UnionDocs fellow. AP on Internet Archive documentary.

Editor Pamela Martinez Venezuelan filmmaker, MFA Documentary Film Stanford. Assembled the proof of concept.

Story Producer Alora LeMalu SF-based songwriter and DJ from the South Pacific. Creative partner shaping the men’s investigation.

Associate Producer Haneen Sidahmed Sudanese-American multimedia artist, filmmaker, and archivist. Sudan Tapes Archive.

COLLABORATORS

Three women whose lives, perspectives, and courage drive this film. They are not subjects but co-authors, turning the camera on the men who love them only in private.

Nikkita Spiritual seeker and investigator

“Being attracted to men, a disease, a tragedy, a never ending scam.”

Avarii Her healthiest relationship tested by reality

Young, resilient, learning to balance hustle and care alongside her house mother and elders.

Fiera Proof that these women can have the love they deserve

“My biggest fear is a man finding his femininity through me.”

“What happens when people pursue recognition across the very boundaries those categories were built to maintain.”

SUPPORT THE PROJECT

Your support ensures this perspective reaches the world, with fair compensation for the collaborators and participants whose lives and courage shape the film. Funds go directly toward production: participant stipends, interview training for collaborators, filming, equipment, and festival strategy.

DONATE VIA BAVC FISCAL SPONSOR →

TRADE is fiscally sponsored by BAVC Media, making all donations tax-deductible. For larger contributions or executive producer inquiries, contact manni@dontsaycat.net