2025

The voice of Ava takes us to Singapore’s Bugis street which was internationally famous in the beginning of the 80s as a meeting place for tourists, transgender sex workers, hawkers and sailors. We follow her at night to explore the alley where stunning trans women posed like stars, proud to be admired in their daring dresses. As dawn is coming we discover their community apartments and accompany them in the daytime to visit temples and shopping centers. Ava recalls how hard their life was as society rejected them and pushed them down to the streets. She also recalls her own story: a child actor who became a trans woman and broke boundaries as a talented performer and a famous social media personality in today’s Singapore. Bugis street was demolished in 1985 as the authorities planned to build the MRT Victoria station. The area was later reshaped into a sanitized shopping mall called Bugis Junction.