Genre
Synopsis
WALK BY ME is Lisa Leeman’s follow-up and response to her seminal film, METAMORPHOSIS (1990 Sundance Filmmakers Trophy, POV/PBS). It is a meditation on aging, friendship, and authenticity in an increasingly transphobic nation – and a subtle interrogation of documentary filmmaking.The current rough cut weaves observational footage (with Gabi and Lisa frequently breaking the fourth wall); clips from METAMORPHOSIS; animated Facebook messages, and short exchanges between Gabi and Lisa in which they interrogate the documentary filmmaking process, with surprises along the way. WALK BY ME is infused with Gabi’s humor and creativity – her paintings, original songs, her characters and the fantastical worlds they inhabit (to be animated). Short interstitial scenes convey time passing and social context, including an alarming rise of hostility toward transgender Americans during nine years of filming.
What began in 2015 as a short update has evolved into a textured feature-length documentary, supported by Catapult Film Fund, Sundance Documentary Film Program, USC, private donors, and by MacDowell, Yaddo, and Bogliasco Fellowships. One of only ten films invited to the Hot Docs 2025 Work-in-Progress program. In this time when transgender Americans and their civil rights are under attack, this intimate and personal film counters the erasure of trans stories and is an offering intended to reduce othering. Seamlessly moving through past and present, Walk by Me reminds audiences that trans people have always been here and always will be, and that trans rights are human rights.
Bio
Lisa Leeman has been directing and producing award-winning feature documentaries for thirty-five years. Her cinematic portraits, shot over many years, illuminate contemporary social issues through intimate character-driven stories that follow people at critical turning points in their lives. A 2024 MacDowell Fellow and a 2025 Yaddo and Bogliasco Fellow, she is writing and editing Walk by Me, a portrait of an evangelical transgender artist’s life over thirty-five years, a follow-up to her groundbreaking film, Metamorphosis (Sundance Filmmakers Trophy; POV/PBS, 1990). Filmed over nine years, Walk by Me weaves past and present to explore aging and friendship, art and resiliency, faith and gender -- and the blurred boundaries in documentary filmmaking. Roger Ebert cited Leeman’s One Lucky as one of the best documentaries of 2011. Other acclaimed films include Out of Faith, Who Needs Sleep (with Haskell Wexler), Awake, and Crazy Wisdom. Lisa has also edited award-winning documentaries for the celebrated filmmakers Stanley Nelson; Renee Tajima-Pena; Michele Ohayon; Micha Peled; Lourdes Portillo. A member of the Motion Picture Academy and a professor at University of Southern California’s School of Cinematic Arts, Lisa teaches documentary filmmaking and cinematic ethics. She writes articles about the ethics of documentary filmmaking and co-chairs the DPA Ethics subcommittee. Her films have been supported by the Sundance Documentary Program, Catapult Film Fund, the Producers Guild, American Film Institute, National Endowment for the Arts, and California Humanities Council.
Awards History
Yaddo and Bogliasco Fellowships, 2025
MacDowell 2024 - Fellowship
Hot Docs 2025 - Work in Progress program + Deal Maker program
Seattle Film Festival 2021 - Work-in-Progress program
