Fresh off its world premiere at the 2024 Bronzelens Film Festival, Ryan Ashley Lowery's indie doc Light Up is described by Lowery as "a love letter to myself, the LGBTQ+ community and anyone struggling to live their full truth." 

Existing both as a docuseries and a feature doc, I'm reviewing the feature doc itself, Light Up vibrantly and poignantly tells the stories of those on the spectrum of cisgender queer men and transgender women. Light Up refers to the way that these human beings light up the world and yet are often underrepresented in the media and/or portrayed in stereotypes and caricatures. 

While the docuseries delves into 22 testimonies, the film focuses primarily on five individuals including some who may be at least modestly familiar to folks including Simone Tisci, Derek Jae, Octavius Terry, Obio Jones, and Benjamin Carlton. 

Lowery largely sets Light Up within the framework of Atlanta Fashion Week, an approach that allows the film to be absolutely incredible to look at without compromising its central message that the world lights up when people find the courage to come out and be authentically who they are. 

While the film is, indeed, quite stylish, rest assured that it is still possessing of powerful humanity and richness of stories. While this varies from person-to-person, it's the humanity in Light Up that makes it a vital watch and the realization that each person represented here has learned to live their truth and has succeeded in their own individual ways. 

Given the importance of each story, I found myself by film's end truly wanting to watch the more comprehensive docuseries and to really lean into these lives and their valuable testimonies. The importance of community is a recurring theme, both family and family of choice is present throughout and there is, as one should expect, remarkable scenes of drama, pain, renewal, and healing throughout Light Up. 

Beautiful to watch and engaging throughout, Light Up is a film to catch if it arrives at a festival near you and/or when it inevitably finds a streaming home that will bring it to the wider audience it so deserves. 

Written by Richard Propes
The Independent Critic