Come See Me In The Good Light: "They kept saying: “I don’t want people leaving sad. I want to write a love poem to Megan and a love poem to life.”

In this vHopeful Conversation, Vanessa Hope speaks with director Ryan White and producer Jessica Hargrave about their Oscar‑nominated documentary Come See Me in the Light, which follows poet Andrea Gibson and partner Megan Falley as they navigate a terminal cancer diagnosis, queer love, and creative collaboration. They trace the film’s origin to Tig Notaro’s unlikely pitch for a “funny” poetry‑and‑cancer documentary, describe arriving at Andrea’s Colorado home with no prior meeting, and unpack the deep ethical considerations of filming through such an intimate end‑of‑life period. Ryan and Jessica explain how they turned the house—and occasional hospital visits—into a visually rich, mostly verité cinematic space, why they built the emotional arc around Andrea’s live performance and extensive poetry archive rather than interviews, and how editor Bernice Chavez and their team used specific poems to carry biography, humor, and grief in surprising ways. They also reflect on Andrea and Megan’s own ability to alchemize devastating news into philosophical insight and jokes, how that rhythm shaped the film’s balance of heartbreak and levity, and how making this independently—before Apple acquired it out of Sundance—felt like a “life‑changing” experience that transformed their understanding of intimacy, grief, and what it means to live fully in the face of loss. Get full access to Dream of a Better World at vanessahope.substack.com/subscribe