Becoming Colleen (30-Day Rental)

PLEASE NOTE: If paying via purchase order, your 30-day rental period will begin when we approve your order. (Approvals are usually processed regularly during trading hours, but please allow up to two business days.) If paying up-front via credit card or PayPal, you will have access to stream the file in a matter of minutes, and your 30-day rental period will begin straight away.

You will receive an email (separate to your tax invoice) with a link to watch this video once your payment is received (or when we approve your purchase order).

Becoming Colleen is a documentary about one woman's transition from male to female in the conservative coastal community of Coffs Harbour on the NSW mid-north coast. Having lived most of her life as Colin – a husband, father, policeman, film projectionist and self-declared shoe fetishist – Colleen faces the challenge of transitioning her gender identity late in life.

From early childhood, Colleen knew she was a girl in the body of a boy, but after the untimely death of her sympathetic mother she sought acceptance by suppressing a vital part of herself. Colleen went on to marry Heather and became the father of two sons. It was only later in life that she started to open up to her wife.

After losing Heather to a brain tumour, Colleen finds herself living alone in Lime Tree Retirement Village. She takes the first steps to live openly as a transwoman, and finds some unexpected allies: Heather's best friend Denise, who lovingly helps her select her daily outfit, and the delightful Yvette who comes by to do Colleen's makeup. Social worker Rowena Bianchino supports Colleen as her physical reality contradicts her desire for independence and as the time arrives for Colleen's move into full-time care.

ATOM has also produced a study guide for Becoming Colleen. This study guide is available for download here.

Becoming Colleen is also available to purchase on DVD here.