That's what makes him really special, his notion that he needed to be proactive.

And as filmmakers, you know, when you're making films, particularly this film, you know that

you want to make sure that people understand the level of commitment that he had.

And you see that.

Here's a man who could have had a musical career, you know, when he came out with this song that he redid for Motown.

But he decided that his purpose on this planet was something else.

Music Hello and welcome back to the Directors' Cut, brought to you by the Directors Guild of America.

In this episode, the life and legacy of artists and activist Carl Bean is explored,

and director's Daniel Jung and Sam Pollard's documentary, I Was Born This Way.

Screened as part of the DGA's documentary series, the film tells the story of Carl Bean,

who survived the oppression of racism and homophobia and found his voice through a mainstream music career.

But dissatisfied with his path to stardom, Bean chose a life of activism,

founding LGBTQ plus and AIDS relief organizations to help underserved populations.

I Was Born This Way is Jung and Pollard's co-directorial debut.

Jung's individual directorial credits include the documentary features, chiefs, game changers inside the video game wars, and being evil, and episodes of the documentary series, Challenger,

The Final Flight, and Secret History of Comics.

Pollard's individual directorial credits include the documentary features Two Trains Runnin,

The League, and Loundez County and The Road to Black Power,

and episodes of the documentary series Bill Russell, Legend, Hostages, and why we hate.

Following the documentary series screening of the film at the DGA Theater in Los Angeles,

Jung and Pollard spoke with director Jade Janice Dixon about filming I Was Born This Way.

Listen on for their conversation. First of all, thank you guys for coming out on a Thursday in the rain to see this amazing film with these veteran filmmakers.

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