What Does it Mean To Be Human

On Inauguration Day in the United States it was clear that this nation was torn. Thus, four filmmakers decided to explore Los Angeles to find out what others were feeling on this historic day. This episode of the LIFE WITHOUT LIMITS podcast takes you behind the scenes through the voices of the filmmaking team of Yogi Roth, Taylor Kavanough, Matt Wilcox and Jonathan ‘JJ’ James. The result of their day in LA was a short film titled WHAT DOES IT MEAN TO BE HUMAN. This team did not want to ask people about their preferred candidate or party lines, but rather explore a much deeper question: ‘What does it mean to be human?’ The responses varied in context but were extremely similar in construct, as each interviewee was thrown off by the question, as if they had never pondered what it meant to be what they are each day, human. The production teams follow up was a simple, yet poignant question, ‘What does it mean to be American?’ Again, the depth and beauty within each answer struck a chord each time the camera was turned on. Ranging from local surfers, successful executives, the homeless and random strangers the characters in this film ranged from men and women, young and old, across multiple religions, races and socio-economic backgrounds. The team of Roth, Taylor Kavanaugh, Matt Wilcox and Jonathan ‘JJ’ James turned this short documentary film around in two days, as they wove each answer around a Spoken Word poem written and performed by Roth. This film is a collaboration of LIFE WITHOUT LIMITS productions and MT Collective. It was shared on Facebook and other forms of social media—with zero press—rather leaning on the community of others who seek to answer life’s fundamental question to pass along this simple story.