Being BeBeI had the rad opportunity to create and direct the entire typographic language for the film BEING BEBE: The BeBe Zahara Benet Documentary (2021), directed by Emily Branham.
The FilmImmigrating from Cameroon, a country where Queerness is criminalized, a young man finds his purpose through performance.
He eventually becomes the very first winner of now-iconic reality show RuPaul’s Drag Race.
Marshall Ngwa (a.k.a. BeBe Zahara Benet) came to the United States in pursuit of education, and discovered his own tremendous gifts in the art form of drag. The film parallels Marshall’s fight to maintain the trajectory of his career alongside a deep connection with his traditional African roots and family.
Over 15 years, BEING BEBE intimately follows Marshall’s remarkable journey from the earliest days of his amateur drag performance career in Minneapolis to his emergence as one of the leading artists in the movement to celebrate and advance Black Queer Excellence.
As the film’s Title Director, I developed the typography from the ground up. The logo, opening sequence, subtitles, lower thirds, descriptions, identifiers and credits both in the film itself and in all promotional material had to be harmonious, adaptable and efficient while also reflecting of BeBe’s story and the tone of the film.
As festival deadlines fast approach and last-minute changes become inevitable in documentary production, I recognized the crucial need for a flexible toolkit. Anyone with access to it can change any title or credit instantly without compromising the visual language or integrity of the film.
