‘I am a living body trapped in the heteronormative regime,’ states a pink-haired person directly to camera. Just as the lexicon has changed over time when it comes to gender, the readings of Virginia Woolf’s Orlando nearly a century on since it was published reflect societal progress. The different analyses previously included feminist and lesbian perspectives, joined today by non-binary and trans politics.

Director/writer Paul B Preciado’s documentary feature is a poetic manifesto for a new way of living that plays out as a sharp and sincere rejoinder to Woolf’s novel. Preciado first came across Woolf’s book (a travel diary through history where the main character changes sex midway) as a teenager and since then has returned to it many times. Sally Potter famously adapted the novel in 1992 with Tilda Swinton in the titular role, yet Preciado felt her interpretation was ‘disappointing’ for trans people like himself as it erased the gender transition through Swinton’s casting.

Twenty-seven different trans and non-binary people, aged from eight to 70, are cast in the role of Orlando. The text is approached in a playful manner as they ponder their lives through artful role-play, and with readings of prose that blend reality and fiction. Visually there are hints of Rainer Werner Fassbinder’s expressionism while cinematographer Victor Zébo conjures up a dreamy ambience. At one point an impromptu disco song breaks out in a psychiatrist’s office following an appointment where Preciado points out all the hypocrisy involved in the way hormone therapy is prescribed.

Preciado explores how far society has come in terms of understanding gender fluidity by tracing the personal and political history of each subject and the courageous activists who have shaped this current moment. No stone remains unturned in this joyful and radical documentary. 

Orlando, My Political Biography is in cinemas from Friday 5 July.