About the film

Lisa Leeman’s groundbreaking film won Sundance’s Filmmakers Trophy and garnered top rating on POV/PBS in 1990.  The film intimately accompanies animation artist Gabi as she transitions her outward presentation of gender over three years in the late 1980’s.  Metamorphosis follows Gabi as she transitions at home, in the workplace, with family and at church. Along the way, the film raises provocative questions about what defines male and female, and questions traditional gender roles.

Lisa has been filming a follow-up for the last nine years, as she and Gabi face new crossroads in their sixties – see Walk by Me to learn more.

Director:

Lisa Leeman

Producer:

Claudia Hoover

Editor:

Kate Amend

Composer:

Wendy Blackstone

Feature

POV Season 03
First Aired: July 3, 1990

Reviews

“The power and intimacy in Leeman’s unsentimental portrait of animator Gabi and her four-year quest for a sexual identity change is equalled only by the honesty and bravery of the film’s subject.”– Sheila Benson, Los Angeles Times

“Informative and fascinating.” – Peter Stack, San Francisco Chronicle

“…subtly raises intriguing questions about the very definition of being a woman..The resulting portrait has reverberations within reverberations…”  – John J. O’Connor, New York Times

“Metamorphosis captures more than a compelling visual transformation; the film raises profound questions about contemporary gender stereotypes… Watching Gabi make conscious choices about what is appropriate challenges the audience to confront biases about male and female behavior.” – Robert Hawk, Sundance Film Festival

Where to watch

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