Naked Gardens
A nudist colony in Florida offers liberation – not merely from clothing undergarments as much as from conservative norms, past trauma and personal limitations. Co-produced by Robert Minervini, this documentary explores overcoming life’s barriers that go beyond carnality and shame.
Patrick Bresnan & Ivete Lucas’ documentaries have always gravitated toward the observational, content to let moments unfold in natural manners to reveal some truth about humanity. Their films have largely focused on everyday people: high schoolers, warehouse workers, and Floridians eager to view the airplane that transported Donald Trump. Their latest feature, Naked Gardens, follows a more unexpected group: nudists. Here at a resort in the Florida Everglades, Bresnan & Lucas are smart in their approach: specifically, to start broadly and depict the cozy atmosphere of the locale before then spotlighting a handful of people to showcase the variety of folks living here. The immediate shock of Naked Gardens is, of course, the nudity on screen, and the first fifteen minutes depict people in an alternation of anxiety-inducing and tender moments.
Naked Gardens (inreviewonline.com)
Patrick Bresnan, Ivete Lucas
Patrick Bresnan and Ivete Lucas are visual artists and documentary filmmakers whose work focuses primarily on local Florida communities. Accolades for their film The Send-Off include the main prize of the short film competition at the SXSW festival, while Skip Day won a distinction at Cannes. Their full-length Pahokee screened in the American Docs competition at the 10th edition of Wroclaw’s American Film Festival.
Filmography
2015 One Big Misunderstanding (doc.)
2016 The Send-Off (doc. short)
2017 Roadside Attraction (doc. short)
2018 Skip Day (doc. short)
2019 Pahokee (doc.)
2021 Happiness Is a Journey (doc. short)
2022 Naked Gardens (doc.)
Cast & Crew
