Naked Gardens with Ivete Lucas & Patrick Bresnan

Faux Reel Podcast

A visually stunning narrative documentary, 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 aging owner Morley and his residents prepare for the largest gathering of nudists in the US, the Mid-Winter Naturist 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.

In this episode Dawn talks with Ivete and Patrick about the underground filmmaking scene, American vs European film festivals, opening themselves up in new and vulnerable ways, and the importance of support systems on set for the filmmaking teams and protagonists.

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