October 21, 2026, Portland, OR – Portland’s queer documentary festival turns 18 this year and got you something so iconic. As a trans teenager with some agency over his own life, Adam Sieswerda’s life is a little unusual, and became even more so when he decided to make a documentary with his mom. Adam’s Apple follows Sieswerda and said mother—visual artist and filmmaker Amy Jenkins—as they each shoot their own footage to capture both the banality and utter newness of Sieswerda’s adolescence.
Main Content
Supporters
The Sundance Institute | Gucci Fund
Perspective Fund
Ford Foundation JustFilms
LEF Foundation
Points North
The Film Study Center at Harvard
The Gotham Film and Media Institute
DOC NYC's Industry Roundtables
New Hampshire Charitable Foundation
Center for Independent Documentary
Frameline Completion Fund
DIRECTOR/PRODUCER: Amy Jenkins (she/her) is a multi-disciplinary artist, whose work focuses on themes such as familial relationships and gender identity. She was awarded the 2022-23 Harvard Film Studies Center-LEF Fellowship, a 2023 Flaherty Fellowship, the 2019 Ewing Award for Interdisciplinary Art, and the 2018 NHFF Filmmaker of the Year. Most recently, she became a 2023 Grantee of The Sundance Institute's Documentary Film Program. Her work has been presented at museums including MoMA, The National Gallery of Art, The Haifa Museum, The Akron Art Museum and Palm Beach ICA. Her first documentary feature, INSTRUCTIONS ON PARTING, premiered at MoMA Doc Fortnight 2018 and won Best Feature Documentary at Athens International Film and Video Festival, OH. Her short film WISHES premiered at the Camden International Film Festival in 2019, and screened at festivals including Salem, New Orleans, Ashland Independent, Frameline, OutfestLA, Sidewalk, NewFest, Wicked Queer, among others. Her artwork has been reviewed in many publications, including The New York Times, ARTnews, Bomb, Artcritical, Performing Arts Journal, and The Village Voice.
WRITER/COMPOSER: Adam Sieswerda (he/him) is a recent graduate of Columbia University with degrees in creative writing and English. In his free time, he writes, produces original music, and hikes. ADAM'S APPLE is his first feature-length film collaboration with his mother, Amy Jenkins.
PRODUCER: Brit Fryer (he/him) is a producer and filmmaker from Chicago’s South Side, currently based in Brooklyn, NY. His work includes Crystal Kayiza’s REST STOP, which won the Short Film Jury Award for US Fiction at the 2023 Sundance Film Festival. His other credits include Lydia Cornett’s BUG FARM (PBS) and Casey Friedman’s PENTATARMEX RABITULAR (Short of the Week). As a director, his most recent film is THE SCRIPT, which explores the complicated relationship between trans and nonbinary communities and medical providers regarding gender-affirming care. His work also includes TESSITURA, CARO COMES OUT, ACROSS, BEYOND AND OVER, and TRANS·IENCE. He has received generous support from Creative Culture, The Sundance Institute, The Ford Foundation, The Jerome Foundation, The Gotham Film and Media Institute, Points North Institute, GLAAD, and Film Fatales. He is a 2023 Dear Producer Award Mentee and a 2023 Sundance Institute Producers Intensive Fellow.
EDITOR: Kristina Motwani (she/her) is an award-winning film editor, producer, writer, and story consultant working in San Francisco. With Homeroom (2021), Home is a Hotel (2023), Fruits of Labor (2021), First Vote (2020), Midnight Traveler (2019) and After Tiller (2013) Motwani's verité documentary style strives to give intimate portraits of real people. These films were honored with Peabody, Emmy and festival awards. Other personal recognitions include the 2021 Sundance Jonathan Oppenheim Edit Award, 2021 IFF Boston Karen Schmeer Excellence in Documentary Editing, 2023 Karen Schmeer Fellowship mentor, 2019 DOCNYC 40 under 40 honoree, 2018 SFFilm FilmHouse Resident and a 2017 BAVC National MediaMaker Fellow. Her work has screened at the Sundance Film Festival, Tribeca, SXSW, SFFilm festival and has been seen on PBS, Netflix, Hulu and the World Channel.
CONSULTING PRODUCER: Amy Hobby (she/her) is an Academy Award-nominated, Emmy, and Peabody Award-winning producer with credits on 30+ films in distribution. She is perhaps most known for producing exceptional films about artists and the creative process. Her films on singer Nina Simone (What Happened, Miss Simone?), actor/writer Sam Shepard (Shepard & Dark), songwriter/activist Ani DiFranco (1-800-ON-HER-OWN), singer/songwriter Dory Previn (Dory Previn: On My Way to Where), writer/actor Spalding Grey (And Everything is Going Fine), artist Nam June Paik (Nam June Paik: Moon is the Oldest TV) and actress Marilyn Monroe (Love, Marilyn) excel at emotional storytelling and top-level archival work. Hobby has worked on projects with Netflix, Apple+, Hulu, MSNBC Films, PBS, Sony, and has premiered her titles at top festivals including Cannes, Berlin, Sundance, and Tribeca. Hobby is the former Executive Director of the Tribeca Film Institute and current co-founder of Distribution Advocates. With Distribution Advocates, she oversees the newly launched FilmADE Fund promoting innovation in marketing and audience building for independent cinema.
EXECUTIVE PRODUCER: Gerald Herman (he/him) is a connoisseur of world cinema, who founded and ran the Hanoi Cinematheque for 14 years and currently serves on the board of the film preservation organization, IndieCollect. In addition to his work as a writer-director and his longtime devotion to LGBTQ film history, preservation, and access, Gerry has served in various producer/executive producer roles on a wide array of films, including: I Was Born This Way (2025), Beyond The Aggressives (2023), No Straight Lines: The Rise of Queer Comics (2021), Circus of Books (2019), Making Montgomery Clift (2018), Finding Phong (2015), and A Dream in Hanoi (2009).
STORY CONSULTANT: Carter Sickels (he/him) is the author of the novels The Prettiest Star (Hub City, 2020) and The Evening Hour (2012). The Evening Hour was adapted into a feature film that premiered at the 2020 Sundance Film Festival. His writing has appeared in publications including The Kenyon Review, The Atlantic, Oxford American, Poets and Writers, and Guernica. He has received fellowships from MacDowell, the Bread Loaf Writers' Conference, the Sewanee Writers' Conference, and the Virginia Center for the Creative Arts. He has taught at the Warren Wilson MFA Program and the Bread Loaf Writers Conference, and is an assistant professor of creative writing at North Carolina State University.