Comment on Gay rodeo returns to Colorado as a film on the subject debuts in Denver

Luke Gilford’s dazzling 2020 photography book, “National Anthem: America’s Queer Rodeo,” introduced people in the art and photography worlds to gay rodeos. It’s a subject Gilford knows firsthand, having jumped into that world in 2016 and held on through the pandemic to adapt his book into a movie. “National Anthem,” which sees its Colorado premiere Friday, July 12, at Denver’s Sie FilmCenter (denverfilm.org), seems likely to reach many more, as that screening will be followed by additional runs starting July 19 at seven theaters in Denver, Aurora, Highlands Ranch and Westminster. Gilford, an Evergreen native now working between New York and Los Angeles, wants to use his directorial debut to not only lead viewers into the world of LGBTQ bull riders, ranch hands and trainers, but also look at the safe spaces they’ve created to enjoy professional rodeo culture outside of macho stereotypes, he said. “It’s such an ode to the Western, so it’s been nice to finally get to share it with people,” Gilford said via phone this week of the feature, which has been gathering buzz at South by Southwest, the Toronto International Film Festival and others.