LGBTQ+ Film Spotlight: An Interview With Queer Filmmaker Christian D. Vanover

Christian D. Vanover is a 21-year-old gay filmmaker raised in Grand Blanc, Michigan—a small city on the eastern side of the state. He has created seven complete short films and is currently in pre-production on his eighth. His first, Rigo, was a passion product with his friends, and his second, The Midnight Hour, landed him his first televised news interview and several film festival awards. This past week, I had the pleasure of reaching out to Christian to answer some questions about his work and explore the impact of queer representation on the LGBTQ+ community broadly, as well as how it’s affected him.

Tell me a little bit about your background.

I had an itch to always leave Michigan growing up. Not that I was running away from anything, but more running towards something, chasing down a dream in my head that had played in my head on a loop, much like a movie. Just one I had not seen before. It wasn’t until I was 17 that I knew the steps to get me there. And the loud, screaming voices in my writing had finally made sense. These weren’t poems and short stories; they were scripts.

What made you fall in love with film and filmmaking?

The story. Taking something that you can’t get out of your head, giving it a name, characters, and a direction is incredible. It’s honestly all I have ever wanted since I was a kid. Film is one thing; it’s an art. Unlike dance or painting, it’s in a league fully of its own. Incorporating every art form and wrapping it up on its own with music and emotion and colors to really bring a shared or new emotion to a screen. It’s powerful stuff. It’s honestly one of the biggest aspects of community I can think of.

How has your identity as a gay filmmaker impacted your work?

Being a “gay filmmaker” is not something I used to take pride in, as I was closeted even whilst making my first two gay films. As I now gear up for the fourth in the same genre, I have found such a unique community support, familial support, and, of course, my incredible friendships, most of which help me bring these stories to screen. I would say my sexuality is the least interesting thing about me most days, and I can agree that there is so much more to me than who I choose to love. But when it comes to my writing, when it comes to writing about love, being a gay filmmaker makes my writing natural; it makes it very me. I feel so safe wrapped in the blanket that is being a gay filmmaker.

Can you talk a little bit about the themes that you explore?

Some themes that I explore throughout all my movies is a sense of love. Even with my non-LGBTQ stories like my third film, The Sun Can Shine at Midnight, or my horror feature Snap Out of It! there is a strong undertone of young and powerful love. When talking specific to my gay stories, I explore themes like identity and finding yourself while discovering another person. These themes mean the most to me because they are me.

Growing up a part of the LGBTQ community is so scary and can feel so isolating, like holding on to the biggest secret in the world, and there are so many outlets that feel like oceans away. Honestly film bridged that huge gap for me, I hope to create a bridge for someone else. In my now most successful short film RMH15, I explore the theme of being closeted and loving someone you didn’t think you could, to hopefully reach audiences that are also struggling to come to terms with that. I hope to explore more of this in the upcoming sequel.

What, in your opinion, is the importance of sharing queer stories?

Sharing queer stories brings light to the dark. The closet or the haunted house you hide your sexuality in, like a ghost, can have such a permanence feeling to it. But watching or listening or reading all sorts of different queer media can feel so liberating and freeing. Sharing stories is, as I’ve said, a bridge to other outlets of becoming who you are. And that’s what we all want, is a true embrace of your most you, you.

Has queer representation in film impacted you?

Oh my god, like you wouldn’t believe. Seeing characters on screen or characters in a book that have a similar background to myself makes the content so much more inspiring and engaging. I have never felt more seen than reading about a gay teenager jumping through the same hoops I did. Aside from the content, the creators being queer, like Luca Guadagnino, whose quote from Call Me By Your Name I have tattooed on my left forearm, will always impact me deeply. Films like Guadagnino’s are getting the recognition they deserve and inspiring young queer men and women and all in-between to be who they want to be, love who they want to love, and live your life as you, not as someone you have been told you should be.

How do you think films like yours inspire queer youth?

Coming from the writer side of my films, I think my films inspire youth to love and let love surround you. I tackle a lot of themes very close to my heart, mostly because these are my experiences. I tell these stories in a way that are very real and very raw in hopes to both caution and inspire queer youth and anyone else watching on what life is outside of that small town, or the four corners of a closet. That being true to yourself is liberation, not confinement. I hope to grow my platform and inspire more youth, bring about more, louder voices to tell their stories. Hopefully to live in a world where “queer films” are just films. Where seeing a boy kiss another boy isn’t taboo or a “shock.” I aspire to be an inspiration to those who want to live in that world as well.

You can find all of Christian’s work on YouTube and more information about himself and his productions on his Instagram!