The award-winning trans film, Adam’s Apple, will have its Irish premiere at the IFI Documentary Festival on September 26. The film is made up of home videos that show the powerful and emotional journey of a mother, Amy K. Jenkins, and her trans son, Adam, as he grows into his own and discovers his gender identity. It is directed by Amy, written by Adam, produced by Britt Fryer, edited by Christina Matwani and story consulted by Carter Sickels.

Adam’s Apple had its world premiere at South by Southwest in Austin, Texas, in March 2026, and has since travelled to numerous festivals internationally. At the Ann Arbor Film Festival, it won Best LGBTQ Film; at the Frameline San Francisco International LGBTQ+ Film Festival, it received the Frameline Completion Fund; and finally, at the OUTSOUTH Queer Film Festival, it won Best Documentary.

The film started out as video recordings spanning years that were taken by Amy to capture family memories, along with videos by Adam with his friends. Speaking to GCN, Amy explained, “We didn’t look at the footage until much later, after Adam was in college, and we decided, okay, we’re gonna make a feature film out of all this”.

Talking about the creative process, she added, “We had certain direction in our mind. We wanted to highlight trans joy but didn’t want to solely focus on the transition and the medical aspects. We wanted really to show Adam’s full life through high school, going from a boy to a man and have the trans narrative be only a small portion of the whole story.”

Adam added that he is “very proud of the film”, for himself and his family. “Of course, there’s the part of me that was nervous and was like, ‘Well, will people actually enjoy this?’ because it’s home video, and it’s hard to kinda separate yourself when it’s your own home video from that and view it as just a film. But then seeing it travelling to festivals and… hearing people’s reactions… That has just given me a lot of hope for the world.”

Regarding advice for young trans people who are early in their transition, he continued, “Something I always talk about with this film is how much we wanted to highlight trans joy and unconditional love. To me, unconditional love can be an external thing you’re getting from your family or friends, but I believe it’s also an internal practice. Really trying to pick out the parts of you that you find joy from. I think that can combat a lot of the negativity that trans youth are just constantly receiving in the world today.”

On the other hand, Amy shared some meaningful words for parents of trans children, saying, “The most important thing is to listen to your child, to give them the opportunity to fully express themselves to you. So often children’s voices are dismissed as naive or just a phase, or they aren’t taken seriously…

“Your kid might be way ahead of you with their own understanding of themselves, but as long as you’re listening and trying to understand and asking questions and treating them with respect, then you’re maintaining an open, communicative relationship.”

The two also talked about some of their standout moments from Adam’s Apple. Adam’s was the conversation with his mother about her wanting to put up his old Christmas stocking that had his deadname on it.

He explained, “I feel like that scene really shows this kind of delicate balance of two people processing each other, and my mom letting go of these images of me that I don’t have of myself.”

He added, “Then for myself also, now that in the scene I was a little older, kind of having more patience and seeing that even though there’s tension, there is respect, and it’s not [her] trying to go back to this image that isn’t me, but instead just like a form of relearning someone”.

For Amy, her favourite scene was the montage of Adam sleeping throughout his life after he gets top surgery. She said, “It just condenses the power of what film can do with memory and motherhood and the way that a person who you’ve raised all of their multitudes lives within you simultaneously. You’re not just in a relationship with them in the present moment. You’re in a relationship with them throughout their whole life that you’ve known them”.

Both of these scenes demonstrate the emotional power and resonance of Adam’s Apple.

With the Irish premiere date drawing near, Adam concluded, “I really want it to play for people who are unfamiliar with trans issues… I feel like that’s where change can really happen, when people who are unfamiliar can encounter a story like in our film and that essentially, I’m just growing up”.

The IFI Documentary Festival takes place between September 23 and 27 at the Irish Film Institute, Temple Bar, Dublin. They state that it will be “a celebration of Irish and international documentary filmmaking that goes behind the headlines, champions bold new voices and world class artistry, and honours the trailblazing works of pioneering directors”.

Check out the IFI website for more information and to see the full programme.

 

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