"Born to Be" follows the work of Dr. Jess Ting, a plastic surgeon at Mount Sinai Center for Transgender Medicine and Surgery in New York City—where all transgender and non-binary people have access to quality transition-related health and surgical care.

With extraordinary access, this feature-length documentary takes an intimate look at how one doctor’s work impacts the lives of his patients as well as how his journey from renowned plastic surgeon to pioneering gender-affirming surgeon has led to his own transformation.

"Born to Be" gives voice to those who refuse to conform to the gender norms and stereotypes. The film addresses the nuances and complexities of gender, exploring key issues around the human right to define gender for oneself.

Through the transitions of Dr. Ting’s patients, we witness the joys and torments that come with this brand-new territory—even as we see the limitations of Dr. Ting’s renowned surgical skills, and his commitment to his new field being tested.

The House of Detention is a ten-story prison facility, completed in 1966, in New Orleans, Louisiana. It was damaged during Hurricane Katrina and subsequently has been closed by the Orleans Parish Sheriff’s Office, which operated the facility. The City of New Orleans plans to use FEMA funding to demolish the structure

While this building has played a very significant role in the history of New Orleans, most people who live and work here, including most elected officials, religious leaders, community activists, concerned citizens, historians, artists, mental health workers and others, have never been able to see the inside of this building, to walk the tiers, go into the cells, or to experience the feel of the place, which can be a very daunting and thought-provoking experience.

This project, very much at its genesis, seeks to preserve stories that have emerged from its walls.

Andrew Paulson is the most culturally influential person whose name you’ve never heard, and not because he didn’t say it enough. Since his untimely passing in 2017, his legacy as an entrepreneur, an artist, and a muse has grown in luster even as those of us who knew him see the edges being polished from his always engaging but always contentious relationship to himself and others.

The idea of telling his life's story was mused about at the wake that followed Andrew Paulson’s memorial service in London in 2017. As the night grew longer and the drinks poured more freely, the stories of Andrew Paulson’s life took shape as an irresistible and impossible narrative. Paulson was the original disruptor. Reactions to him were extreme: you adored him or you loathed him and typically, a deep friendship began with a Dorothy Parker-like viciousness toward one another. We told remarkable, outlandish and literally epic stories (he was the inspiration for the title character of David Hirson’s LaBete.) Andrew Paulson’s brazen antics are so remarkable that someone noted: “God, you could NEVER make a film about Andrew Paulson.”

And so the challenge took seed.

"No one ever thinks about the mother."

There are 2.3 million people in prison in the U.S. and every single one of them has a mother. Tosha Smith Mills never imagined she'd be one of them, but 6 years ago, a Texas judge sentenced her son Blake to 40 years in prison. It was a first arrest, a first offense robbery committed with a plastic pellet gun. Distraught, she surrendered to depression until something deep inside her sparked. She began to journal, and the journal turned into a best selling book on Amazon. Other mothers reached out to her -- some seeking help, others, solace. She hit the road, in the middle of a pandemic, determined to crowd-source her pain. She brought along her other son Chris and his camera. Now they want to tell you their story, and the stories of the women they meet -- the unheard voices.