The powerful new documentary I Was Born This Way, which just premiered at the Tribeca Festival, uncovers the overlooked legacy of Archbishop Carl Bean, the artist behind the 1977 Billboard Top 10 disco anthem of the same name. Directed by Oscar and Emmy winners Daniel Junge and Sam Pollard, the film took six years from start to finish and, according to Junge, began unexpectedly. “I was researching the story for a series on protest music… and when you think of protest music and sex you think of Lady Gaga,” he said. “In the process of researching that I found the original, ‘I Was Born This Way,’ and that story just stuck with me.” He added, “Even though I never did the series, when I realized Carl literally lived two miles from me, we did the first interview, and from there it took off.”
Once Junge connected with Pollard and showed him that first interview, the collaboration began. “About five years ago, Daniel reached out to me, showed me the interview, and my first reaction was, how can I help?” said Pollard. As the project evolved, so did the scope. “I thought I knew the story of this song. I thought I knew the story of Carl,” Junge admitted. “But as we got into it, the heritage and the backstory of the song is something we never intended to include. And yet… it’s a rich story, it’s an African American story, it’s a female African American story.” Pollard echoed the sentiment: “That’s the thing that’s wonderful about making documentaries. I always feel like an archeologist. You dig into these things, you uncover new things… and then it becomes layers, it becomes textures, it becomes more nuanced.” Alongside Bean’s personal journey growing up Black and queer and his music career, the film features powerful interviews with Lady Gaga, Dionne Warwick, Billy Porter, Questlove, and Rep. Maxine Waters.
Set in both New York and Los Angeles, I Was Born This Way follows Bean’s transformation from a troubled youth to disco icon to founder of the Minority AIDS Project and the groundbreaking Unity Fellowship Church. “All music has some sort of social activism component,” Pollard noted. “It’ll move you; it’ll make you think, make you react.” Reflecting on the years-long journey to bring the story to the screen, Junge added, “We’re ecstatic. This festival has been so good to Sam and I in the past, and there’s no better place to premiere than here tonight.”
By: Janine Silver
