Adam's Apple

In this candid and heartwarming portrait of transition – through gender and into adulthood – a filmmaker mother and trans son capture the power of acceptance and authenticity.

Adam Sieswerda always knew he was a boy, but the aspiring singer-songwriter feared his artistic prospects because he also knew his voice wouldn’t drop. At 15, with support from his parents, he received his first testosterone shot – and so began Adam’s journey to becoming his true self. As he embraces his growing identity as a fledgling young adult male, his mother, filmmaker Amy Jenkins, documents various milestones – psychologist appointments, university applications, a ‘boob funeral’ – with both curiosity and compassion.

Screening at SXSW and CPH:DOX, Jenkins’s eight-years-in-the-making film chronicles Adam’s transformative experiences of gender-affirming care while giving glimpses into the logistical, physiological and emotional demands of the process. At times, she even lets Adam take the reins – her handheld footage and archival clips interwoven with his smartphone videos – lending further intimacy to a film already brimming with energetic honesty. Amid the threats to trans rights in their home country and around the world, Adam’s Apple is an urgent and undeniably touching testament to familial solidarity and trans affirmation.

“[This] intimate, expertly crafted doc celebrates [the] power of family and identity … a warm and insightful portrait of a difficult but essential journey.” – Screen Daily