NAKED GARDENS
A film by Ivete Lucas, Patrick Bresnan
2022, 90 minutes
2022, 90 minutes
No. 410
Documentary
Documentary
Description
Naked Gardens immerses audiences in the complex, unseen world of a family nudist resort in the Florida Everglades. Filmed over one season at this lush tropical campsite, the film follows the stories of individuals drawn to an unusual community, which promises both non-conformist values and, more importantly for some, a cheap place to live. As agingowner Morley and his residents prepare for the largest gathering of nudists in the US, the Mid-WinterNaturist Festival, they are faced with challenges both as a community and as individuals.
Filmmakers Ivete Lucas and Patrick Bresnan (Pahokee) are known for their verité stories that reimagine ways of seeing America, and its people. Embedding themselves within communities typically outside of the media eye, they capture the relational foundations upon which individual lives are built, alongside the historical and economic currents that shape the most intimate aspects of American existence.
In Naked Gardens, the filmmaking duo creates a portrait of the rebellious retirees, LGBTQ loners, exiles from conservative America and families with young children, all of whom have decided to make this nudist resort their home.
Festivals
Official Selection, Tribeca Film Festival
Reviews
“...a powerful humanistic statement on freedom of speech and a thought-provoking look on taboos.” - Brazilian Press
“...given the subject matter and the joy on display, to not celebrate this loving, liberated society as they choose to be seen would be a travesty. Be who you are and embrace the joy.” - Hammer to Nail
“Too often, documentaries confuse tension with raw emotion but here, among moments of sadness, joy, and even strife, Bresnan and Lucas capture that rarest of moods: contentment." - Austin Chronicle
“What filmmakers Ivete Lucas & Patrick Bresnan catch on camera is undoubtedly intriguing. They are intimate moments and mundane moments. Naked Gardens showcases a group of earnest people trying to live a harmonious and simple way of life." - Reel News Daily
“...pure documentary-as-indexical-record filmmaking.” - Screen Comment
