Filmmaker Ryan Ashley Lowery is also the CEO and founder of Ryan Ashley Productions. He also has experience as a basketball player, model, actor, and content creator. After starring in roughly a dozen films, he finally got the camera. His debut Light Up premiered at the Bronzelens Film Festival is a documentary, which DMovies writer Eighan Lyng describes as “a truthful overview about coming out in the US”.

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Eoghan Lyng – Do you think it is a struggle for gay black men to be accepted in their community?

Ryan Ashley Lowery – All gay black men belong to two communities: the black community and the gay community. I believe in some respects it can be a struggle for gay black men to be accepted into the black community especially where faith and religion has played such an important part in the resilience of the black community, while at the same time contributing to instances where religion has been used to spew hatred and condemn gay people to hell. In addition, black masculinity requires strength because of the marginalisation of black people and many in the black community often associate being gay as being weak and feminine. Not being accepted has caused a lot of gay black men to hide their sexual orientation, and live life in the dark.

A strong stigma was created about gay black men, and for this reason; being openly gay in the black community can be difficult and not always a safe option. With that said, the black community is making strides in accepting black gay men and there are some safe spaces for black gay men in certain churches, families, and cities where we are protected and given the liberty to be openly gay. The growth needs to continue and with that, acceptance. I’m grateful to live in city like Atlanta where there are numerous safe spaces for us.

EL – A theme in the film is superheroes: do queer people aspire to be heroes from comic books?

RAL – Like everyone else, some queer people aspire to be superheroes from comic books. The theme of finding your superpowers by being your authentic self and living in your truth, is a profound statement made by Benjamin Carlton in the film (Light Up interviewee), captured the essence of Light Up and gives queer people permission and hope. The purpose of the film is to provide examples where we have permission to be our authentic selves, and to not be afraid to take up spaces in which we belong. Another purpose of Light Up is to share Hope in knowing that doors will open for all of us if we all truly believe in who we are, know what our purpose is; and believe that we all have a right to expect great things.

EL – How did the subjects take to the camera; were they nervous about revealing their histories onscreen?

RAL – We did our best to provide our subjects with a safe space to share their stories. Some of the subjects were a little nervous at the beginning, but they quickly got comfortable. We started the conversation light and fun to get them warmed up and then we progressed towards more serious topics.

EL – Did the Trump administration change the landscape for queer people across the United States? How?

RAL – The Trump administration was a wakeup call that we still had a long way ago in terms queer rights and acceptance. We had a made a ton of progress with the Obama administration and the Trump administration did it’s best to rollback or weaken queer rights including Trump’s vote against the Equality Act, appointing anti-LGBTQ+ judges, and making it more difficult for queer people in the workplace, military and schools. The Human Rights Campaign article, The Real List of Trump’s “Unprecedented Steps” for the LGBTQ+ Community, does a great job of highlighting the steps the Trump Administration took to undermine queer rights.

EL – Your film features a clip from Beverly Hills Cop – did Alex Foley upset members of the LGBT+ community?

RAL – I’m not sure if the clip upset some members of the LGBT+ community. In the documentary Obio speaks about being afraid to be gay because now he would be the stereotypes. The clip was included as it was a stereotypical representation of gay people as flamboyant and sexually promiscuous, which was the stereotypes Obio was trying to run away from.

EL – I was reminded of Moonlight (Barry Jenkins, 2016) watching this film. Did Moonlight guide the work in any way?

RAL – Moonlight didn’t necessarily guide the work but the stories of the subjects before coming fully into themselves are reflective of the story told in Moonlight. With that said, part of the inspiration for this film stems from wanting to give friends and others that have struggled with their sexuality or lived dual or secret lives like the character in Moonlight, tools to overcome issues with their sexuality and permission to live out Loud.

EL – Who are some of your formative influences as a documentarian? Is it fair to say it’s reminiscent of Michael Apted? I’m not familiar with Michael Apted works.

RAL – This is an experimental documentary as I was inspired by a diverse range of unscripted television such as Oprah’s Master Class, Derek Jae’s Gay Like Me, Marlon Rigg’s Tongues Untied, Real Housewives, FX’s Pride, and 60 Minutes. I wanted to colour outside of the box and be creative as possible to produce something that had a signature style, captured heavy moments and light moments, different interview formats, a variety of settings and a range of each of the subject’s personalities. I would say Oprah’s Master Class was the biggest influence as a key focus was to tap into the vulnerability of the subjects and the intimacy of the environment so that the audience could feel as if they were in the room with us during the interviews. As in Master Class, I also wanted the audience to take key learning lessons, so I have the subjects at times directly giving advice.

We used a lot of still photography throughout the film as the subjects didn’t have videography from the childhood. My editor (Clinton Cornwell) and I use the Ken Burns’ effect to help bring these still photos alive and to focus on some of the finer details in the images such as the eyes which often tells the depths of one’s experience.

EL – One of the participants recalls being bullied for “sounding white”. Would this count as a class issue for those who dish out the insult?

RAL – Black culture: language, art, music, and other forms of expression are not monoliths. While counting the incident solely as a class issue might be unfair, in local and regional black culture there can be stereotypes about how we should look and sound. There may be correlations with a black person called out for ‘sounding white’ and being perceived from a higher economic class because of disparate levels of education. Thus, some people may associate speaking articulately and intelligently as such, but it’s a superficial way of explaining away black culture.

EL – How has LGBT+ representation changed over the decades: is it improving?

RAL – LGBT+ representation has made changes over the decades. We are seeing more representation and more diversity and representation in movies, music, television, and even politics. A lot of major cities have establishments that cater more towards LGBT+ people, and there seems to be more love, light, and acceptance from heterosexual people. There is still need for greater acceptance and respect for the LGBT+ community.

EL – Do you think this film will play differently to European audiences than to those in the States?

RAL – This film has the potential to reach global impact because this film is a human story that crosses all geographies, gender, and sexual orientation. At some point, we have all struggled with being our most authentic self whether it’s trying to appease our parents, teachers, or the world. This film challenges everyone to break free of self, family and society-imposed labels and limitations. Furthermore, there are a variety underrepresented important queer stories shared in this film that people in Europe and beyond can relate to, and the hope is that queer people everywhere will feel seen, validated, loved, and heard. Everyone will walk away from this film with a greater understanding of all LGBT+ people, but especially of black LGBT+ people. I believe that they will better understand our struggle, fight, history, growth, and culture.

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Ryan Ashley Lowery is pictured at the top of this interview. The other image is a still from Light Up.