BORN TO BE

Documentary Feature | 2019

BORN TO BE is now playing in virtual cinemas across the country. These virtual cinemas let you watch the film from home while directly supporting local independent movie theaters closed due to COVID-19. You can watch on your computer, mobile or tablet device, Apple TV, Roku, and Amazon Fire.

Visit FILM FORUM to watch the film. Or KINO MARQUEE to select the theater you want to support and follow the prompts to pre-order or watch the film.

Soon after New York state passed a 2015 law that health insurance should cover transgender-related care and services, director Tania Cypriano and producer Michelle Hayashi began bringing their cameras behind the scenes at New York’s Mount Sinai Hospital, where this remarkable documentary captures the emotional and physical journey of surgical transitioning. Lending equal narrative weight to the experiences of the center’s groundbreaking surgeon Dr. Jess Ting and those of his diverse group of patients, Born to Be perfectly balances compassionate personal storytelling and fly-on-the-wall vérité. It’s a film of astonishing access - most importantly into the lives, joys and fears of the people at its center.

Recipient of the Mayor’s Office of Media and Entertainment and the New York Foundation for the Arts - the inaugural “Made in NY” Women’s Film, TV & Theatre Fund.