Luke Gilford Embraces Gay Rodeos with 'National Anthem'

"My father was in the Professional Rodeo Cowboys Association," out photographer and filmmaker Luke Gilford, a native of Evergreen, Colorado, tells EDGE. "We traveled all through the Southwest, going to rodeos. That's all my earliest memories," Gilford adds.

The apple hasn't fallen far from the tree, even though Gilford grew up gay. With his acclaimed photo book "National Anthem" (and a headline-making art exhibit of the same title), Gilford brought queer rodeo out of the margins, raising awareness of a distinctly American sporting tradition that mixes machismo and queerness.

It was, perhaps, inevitable. "I just love Western culture," Gilford explains. "I sort of stayed away from it as I got older, because of how homophobic and misogynistic it can be, but then I discovered the International Gay Rodeo Association in 2016. I was just so warmly welcomed by the community and felt this electric charge of belonging."

It's that same electric charge that fills the frames of Gilford's debut feature – also titled "National Anthem" – which is currently in theaters after causing a stir at LGBTQ+ film festivals. When a queer young man named Dylan (Charlie Plummer, "Lean on Pete"), a 20-year-old day laborer in rural New Mexico, finds his way to a better-paying ranch job, it's a boon to him and the family he's trying to help support – namely, his partying mother (Robyn Lively) and his borderline-neglected younger brother.

But this ranch is unlike any other. Called House of Splendor, the operation is home to a happy, queer crew of ranch hands who represent many of the colors on the queer spectrum, from the gentle, non-binary Carrie (Mason Alexander Park) to the transgender Sky (Eve Lindley).

The owner of the Ranch, Pepe (Rene Rosado), is a gay man's fantasy: Handsome and strong, he seems taken with Dylan from the start, and all too happy to welcome his new worker into the fold on a more permanent basis. The only wrinkle? Pepe and Sky are in a relationship – and Dylan has fallen hard for Sky.

The triangle pulses, shimmers, and strains against the blue of the New Mexico sky and the dust of rodeo events – all the hands at House of Splendor compete in the events, and soon Dylan does, too. But how will Dylan balance his family's demands with his need to live his own life, and find his proper place among his new, queer tribe?

EDGE caught up with Luke Gilford to hear his thoughts on his film and gay rodeos.

EDGE: I'm from Wyoming and New Mexico, and you're from Colorado, so I think we might agree that rodeo is the greatest American sport ever – and queer rodeo is probably even better than that.

Luke Gilford: Yes! I mean, the rodeo brings so much of the American mythology out into the open air, and into life. There's nature and animals, and family and community – you've got denim and barbecue, hairspray, nail polish, dirt, all the good things that America provides, and just so much beauty, too.

EDGE: The movie came from a photo book of the same title about queer rodeo. How did you find your way from the book to the movie?

Luke Gilford: I traveled all through the Southwest for about four years making the book, and through that process I connected so deeply with these people. As I was taking their portraits, I really saw myself reflected back, and found so much common ground in the experiences of finding our people, and belonging, and heartbreak, and loss, and what it means to be an American. It just felt like there was more story, and it became my debut feature film.

EDGE: The images can tell a story, but you had to create a plot and characters. How did you go about this?

Luke Gilford: It felt like for my first feature, it really should start from that deeply personal place. So, the way into the story is really much my own – someone discovering this world and becoming the eyes and ears for the audience to discover this world and feel welcomed into it. That felt like the best place to start from, the one that I know so deeply. For a film that's really about the language of the heart, it felt important for that heart to be my own.