Hi, this is Daniel Garber at the Movies for culturalmining.com and CIUT 89.5 FM.

Dylan is a dirt-poor young man who lives with his alcoholic mother and preteen brother in New Mexico. He earns a living as a day labourer doing construction work. His dream? To save enough money to buy an RV and explore the open roads. But everything changes when he is offered a few weeks’ work on an unusual ranch. All the cowboys and cowgirls who live there are LGBT and looking forward to their next queer rodeo. All of which is alien to Dylan. And that’s where he meets Sky, the woman of his dreams: could this be love? And can Dylan figure out where he fits in at this unusual ranch?

National Anthem is a beautiful coming-of-age romantic drama about a young man discovering himself in Southwestern US. It premiered at SXSW and played at TIFF. The film co-stars Charlie Plummer as Dylan and Eve Lindley as Sky along with a diverse, ensemble cast. It’s based on the photo book National Anthem: America’s Queer Rodeo, by Luke Gilford, who also directed the film. Gilford has shot fashion for Prada and music videos for Troye Sivan and Kesha, but this is his first feature film. Co-star Eve Lindley is a noted model and TV and film actress appearing in Bros, After Yang and Dispatches from Elsewhere. 

I spoke with Eve and Luke from Toronto via ZOOM.

National Anthem is now playing in Toronto.