For director Luke Gilford, his feature film debut National Anthem, which made its international premiere at TIFF, started at the rodeo — the International Gay Rodeo Association, to be specific. He spent years traveling through different states in America, photographing queer rural life within the IGRA's community, a project that resulted in a monograph also called National Anthem, which was published in 2020 and featured a collection of images and essays that foreground queer joy and resilience. ("It's sold out, babe," Gilford said proudly at the start of our interview when I lamented not being able to find it for purchase online.)