GREENFIELD, Mass. - s4story -- Transgender filmmaker Jacob Clayton is excited to screen video work in Massachusetts for the second time this year, as an official selection in the 2026 LAVA Film Festival. Directed by and starring Clayton, The Clayton Effect is a semi-autobiographical view on transgender life.

Part of one of his ongoing trans self-portrait projects, and inspired by the foundational film-editing principle developed in the 1900s (known as the Kuleshov Effect), a transgender man takes the plunge into gender representation in this silent-but-deadly movie, lathered with a throwback feel and a razor-sharp modern twist that subverts classical cinema theory.

More on S For Story

• Massachusetts Author Joseph V. Randazzo Releases Debut Suspense Novel Finding Alma
• Author Charles C. Sells Expands Reader Access to Recovery Memoir Resilience in Recovery
• Brian G. Miller Co., LLC Receives Tier 1 Ranking in the 2027 Edition of Best Law Firms®
• The Villari Firm, PLLC Named to the 2027 Edition of Best Law Firms
• A New Take on Shakespeare's Hamlet: L.A. Author Publishes A Tale of Two Hamlets

The 6th annual LAVA Film Festival runs November 12 through 14, 2026, at The LAVA Center, 324 Main St, Greenfield, MA. The opening reception is Thursday, November 12, from 5 to 8 PM. The Clayton Effect screens with the Experimental and Comedy films on Friday, November 13, at 7 PM. Tickets and more information are available at https://thelavacenter.org/lava-film-festival/.

About Jacob Clayton:
Jacob Clayton is a self-taught artist who uses photography, video, and mixed media to communicate his experience living for decades as a gay transgender man in America. His autobiographical body of work challenges Euro-hetero-white-centric expectations and cultural representations of gender identity and expression.

His work has been shown at the San Francisco Transgender Film Festival in San Francisco, CA; Monmouth University Center for the Arts in West Long Branch, NJ; The Griffin Museum of Photography in Winchester, MA; and the United Arts Council in Raleigh, NC. Learn more at jacobclayton.com.