Jay Rohr
Paul & Trisha: The Art of Fluidity, a documentary directed by Fia Perera, focuses on the unique life shared by Paul Whitehead and Trisha Van Cleef, a transgender artist. Recently, I had the pleasure of sitting down with Fia to chat about this project as well as her future film ambitions.
She’s no stranger to the game. Fia Perera is an effusive individual with her own impressive resume. In earlier days she did a bit of acting in addition to stand-up comedy. While those pursuits may not hold her current attention, there’s no doubt they prepared her for the next chapter in her career. If nothing else, they tempered the quick wit and charm necessary to keep an interview from getting dull. That said, Fia shifted from performing to work behind the camera.
As a writer, director, and producer she’s put together a few films. Among the most notable is a 2020 short, entitled Mermaid. It’s won several awards and is a heart squeezing picture. Mermaid tells the tale of a suicidal ten-year-old who encounters a grieving drag queen. Those intrigued by the premise can find it on Amazon as part of The Edge of Her Mind Anthology, a collection of video shorts. Suffice it to say, Fia Perera is no stranger to the gender identity struggle.
Expanding that catalogue of allied material is Paul & Trisha: The Art of Fluidity. This humanizing portrait of someone living their best life as a transgender individual is charming. The central subject Paul Whitehead is already a captivating person. As an artist he worked on Time Out magazine in its early days. His gifts as a graphic designer eventually led to Paul crafting album covers for musical acts such as Genesis, Peter Gabriel, and Van Der Graaf Generator. And while that might be worthy of a documentary all alone, Fia’s film captures the journey that led Paul to Trisha Van Cleef, his female identity.
Chatting with her it’s clear she cares about the subject of her documentary. Though there is a personal relationship with Paul/Trisha, it never struck me that the film is self-serving. This is a story Fia felt needed to be shared to help broaden the understanding of transgender individuals. And this documentary certainly offers a perspective on that community. Although Paul & Trisha: The Art of Fluidity doesn’t explore the overarching idea of gender, it gets at the heart of what it means to be fully actualized, the peace that comes from being complete.
Meanwhile, Fia Perera is also busy on pre-production of a full-length version of Mermaid. It sounds like things are going swimmingly and hopes are high the picture will be available soon. For the time being, Paul & Trisha: The Art of Fluidity takes center stage. Below is a link to our conversation with Fia Perera which details her work and what making this documentary entailed, not to mention what it meant to her. It’s worth listening to because she offers a sense of why some stories need to be told in this manner and the mechanics of bringing it honestly to the screen.
