When Luke Gilford was co-writing and directing his debut feature film National Anthem, he couldn’t help but think back to his youth in Colorado.
Based on his photography book of the same name, the drama revolves around a 21-year-old construction worker who finds solace in a community of queer ranchers and rodeo performers as he tries to support his little brother and alcoholic mother.
Born in Denver and raised partly in Evergreen, Gilford regularly attended rodeos in Colorado with his father who belonged to the Professional Rodeo Cowboys Association.
“All my earliest memories are at rodeos,” Gilford says. “I always loved riding horses. But my dad would constantly break his neck and back. That really stopped my motivation to do it myself. Instead, I loved the visuals of it. Stetson hats, snakeskin boots and giant belt buckles. Barbecue. Beer. The community and connection between folks.
“The rodeo brings American mythology to life,” Gilford, 38, continues. “It’s just so beautiful, and it always inspires me. I really missed that part of my life once I moved to California, studied at UCLA, then moved to New York.”
Gilford says he was always a visual person, but he credits being a competitive swimmer with kick-starting his career as a photographer and filmmaker.
“I was underwater so much, practicing for the Olympic trials, that I always had these visual ideas,” he says. “When I quit, I just immediately picked up a camera and used it to express myself.”
‘Everyone is welcome’
But even as Gilford hit extraordinary heights at a young age — shooting for Vanity Fair and other magazines while he was still in college — he found himself craving a connection with Southwestern culture. These feelings were made all the more complex as he got older and realized how the mainstream rodeo circuit was often not a safe space for people of color, queer people and women.
Then, in 2016, Gilford discovered the International Gay Rodeo Association (IGRA). This gave him an entry point back into the world that he’d grown up in, with his hometown Rocky Mountain Regional Rodeo being the site of the world’s longest-running gay rodeo. It also showed him a different side of the equestrian sport that made him fall in love with it all over again.
“This is a rodeo where everyone is welcome,” he says. “Where everyone is safe. It’s a very family-friendly place. It’s just a really beautiful thing.”
The filmmaker’s fascination with the IGRA started to get his creative juices flowing. The renowned photographer — who by now had worked with Prada, Mercedes Benz, Jane Fonda, Pamela Anderson and Hari Nef — traveled with the organization for four years to make the photos that would populate his book. He realized he needed to tell a story about the community-building power of the IGRA.
“I had been so warmly embraced by them,” he says. “It gave me this electric charge of belonging.”
He was also struck by the patriotism on display. They’d fly the American flag proudly and sing the national anthem passionately.
“It was really shocking to me,” Gilford says. “Because I think we equate the flag and patriotism in general to the radical right.”
Gilford was inspired by how they’d taken back these symbols of America and claimed their own space within it. When he started co-writing National Anthem with Kevin Best and David Largman Murray, he wanted to explore this tension and the symbol of the cowboy.
“Growing up, the cowboy represented dominance and even violence,” he says. “So it was beautiful to see so many women, trans people, queer people and people of color embrace the cowboy archetypes. It showed that they could be cowboys, too, while it also revealed a bit more of a feminine, softer and tender side.”
‘A symbol of America’
When Gilford shot National Anthem over 17 days in New Mexico, he returned to the images from his upbringing in Colorado. Having already been inspired by his own memories while making his book, he wanted to make sure that he recreated its “aesthetic and intimacy with its subjects.” This meant juxtaposing “very, very close up shots of the subjects with vibrant colored tones and wide epic landscapes.”
Even now, having long finished the film, Gilford can’t help but reflect on how Colorado continues to be an inspiration to him.
“Colorado is a symbol of America. It’s full of what makes America beautiful,” he says. “It’s a reminder that America is never just one thing. Its greatness and promise and idealism is proportionate to its diversity and nature. I hope this film is evidence that places like Colorado and New Mexico have a way of life that’s not just a fantasy, but is an opportunity for all of us.”
As he developed the film, Gilford knew he didn’t want to sensationalize or make the story needlessly traumatic. He wanted to show how hopeful organizations like the IGRA are for marginalized groups, especially with so many gay cowboy movies ending in tragedy.
“It’s hard enough for most people to live their lives out there,” he says. “So why not make something that is more celebratory and joyful and about love and connection and tenderness? That also exists in the world, and I want to see it on screen.”
ON SCREEN: National Anthem is out now in wide release.