“Being BeBe” is the story about Marshall Ngwa, an African artist whose identity hinges on the complicated success of his drag persona, BeBe Zahara Benet. Grounded by Ngwa’s own present-day narration, the film features 15 years of vérité, interviews and performances illustrating his journey to “Queer Black Excellence.”
From his COVID-standstill in Minneapolis, Minn., U.S.A., Ngwa watches and reacts vibrantly to sequences the filmmakers have shot with him over the years. Like everyone in Minneapolis, he grieves the tragedy of George Floyd. Just months before, 2020 was poised to be BeBe’s “breakthrough year,” with a new TV show, music album and live show – until COVID-19 hit.
FAMILY BACKSTORY
The clips unfurl a time capsule: His early days as a promising amateur drag performer in the Minneapolis clubs, his family backstory and immigrant narrative. Ngwa’s staggering effort is apparent years before his “RuPaul’s Drag Race” win in 2009, where he is handed a giant US$10,000 check. But there was no blueprint then for turning his new platform into an actual career.
In 2010, Ngwa moves to New York City, N.Y., U.S.A. to build a new creative community. This new vibrant collective of performers creates a full-on spectacle of a show, “CREATURE,” which showcases all aspects of BeBe’s talents. Ngwa invests his savings into “CREATURE” with hopes for a longer off-Broadway run or a move to Las Vegas. Then, the investors disappear unexpectedly. Ngwa is devastated, paralyzed by failure.
By 2014, Ngwa feels tremendous pressure to get his career back on track with the overwhelming competition from 100+ “RuPaul’s Drag Race” queens who came after him. In preparation to reinvent himself with a deeply personal show called “REVEAL,” he takes an unconventional acting class focused on embracing vulnerability. While the process leads to powerful revelations, “REVEAL” doesn’t advance BeBe’s career, and Ngwa moves back to Minneapolis penniless.
Meanwhile, we meet LGBTQ+ youth and activists in Cameroon, where queer rights remain in the dark ages. They’ve never heard of BeBe and are baffled by the concept of drag being a viable career. Yet they are mesmerized and get “chair de poule” (goosebumps) when seeing BeBe on their smartphone screens. Their precarious lives reinforce what viewers have learned from Ngwa: “To come from Cameroon and do all of this, it’s a big, big, big, BIG deal,” says one young Cameroonian whose parents put him in jail for being gay.
Back in Minneapolis, Ngwa watches reality TV and returns to a sleepy Sunday night gig where the same performers viewers met in 2006 still work. Ngwa’s parents visit from Cameroon and finally agree to see BeBe perform in drag for the very first time.
It’s a triumph of performance and acceptance.
“If God did not want him to do those things, He would not put it in him,” his mother says.
ALL STARS
Then, in January 2018 — in a move that shocked the “Drag Race” fandom — BeBe is the first previous winner to compete in the reality TV spin-off “Drag Race All-Stars.” It’s a risk for a winner like BeBe to return: Can she hold her own against the younger queens? Does it tarnish her prior win if she can’t? BeBe faces her fears, and is introduced to a whole new generation of fans.
The opportunities and whirlwind that follow bring a resurgence to BeBe’s languishing career. By now, lessons have been learned and Ngwa embraces his whole self. His songs include Pidgin English, the hybrid of English, French and Cameroonian dialects. He creates the show “Nubia” — a celebration of Black Queer Excellence — with five other well-known “Drag Race” queens of color that is some of his best work yet.
When unimaginable setbacks put everything on hold again in 2020, Ngwa recognizes the predicament. He’s been there before and has the self-determination to rise again.
Directed by filmmaker Emily Branham, “Being Bebe” follows the ups and downs of Ngwa’s remarkable journey over 15 years, from the earliest days of his amateur career in Minneapolis to his emergence as a national icon in drag performance culture.
Throughout it all, Ngwa — aka BeBe — honors the deep connection he still maintains with his traditional African roots and family.
Check out the trailer below.
