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.
DIRECTORS’ STATEMENTS
IVETE LUCAS
Making this film posed an opportunity for us to challenge the male gaze over naked bodies. Unclothed bodies in film have been traditionally presented as sexy, their titillating features enhanced by camera angles and lighting. This gaze is mostly directed at young, female bodies.
The nudists we filmed with want to challenge our ability to be nude in a social context. We presented the human body matter of factly, with no pre-selection of perfect specimens, no embellishment, no posing or close-ups on body parts. This choice is especially important for people with non-traditional anatomies, who want to see their body represented as it is to empower others like them. The process left me with a question: what would it have felt like for me, as a teenager, to have grown up around real images of naked bodies? What impact might that have had on my self esteem?
As a woman, clothing has been a form of comfort and protection. Being unclothed poses the risk of drawing unwanted stares from someone who wants something I don’t want or who has discovered the part of my body that I’m most insecure about. I was pregnant when making NAKED GARDENS, and as I chose to unclothe my body in front of strangers I felt a natural connection to the women who were there, especially the mothers. As we removed our clothes, allowing ourselves to accept the imperfect parts of our bodies and go about our day in the bright sunlight with other non-airbrushed naked human beings, we found a way to translate that experience through our lens.
The nudists asked us to agree not to blur or place black bars over areas of their bodies considered private. Just as the nudists have pushed the boundaries of what is socially acceptable, we intend to push film and media outlets and audiences to reconsider why nudity is deemed offensive and worth censoring.
PATRICK BRESNAN
In NAKED GARDENS, we are seeking moments of revelation where our protagonists share their deeply personal truths and motivations for living an alternative lifestyle. We are both students and great admirers of the photography of Diane Arbus and knew that nudist resorts, specifically the most dingy and run down, were among her favorite places to visit and photograph. The idea of bringing Diane’s still photography to life with a film was a proposition that we both felt would be incredibly compelling.
The challenges of making a film at a secluded, gated family nudist resort required us to fully inhabit and confront our own fears of nudity and the unknown. The freedom we witnessed was incredibly cinematic against the backdrop of the lush tropical foliage and dated rundown facilities of the resort. Inspired by the experience, we approached the owner who was very comfortable being photographed without clothing and he agreed to the idea of a film while at the same time encouraging us to remove our clothes and join him at the pool for a swim, which at the time was a very scary proposal for us.
After several visits with community members, we decided that if we were going to inhabit and record their lives we must live as they did by removing our clothes. We practiced “Radical Presence” filmmaking where we lived minutes away from the environment and we fully committed to being present in the protagonists’ lives and recording only when they are comfortable with us and the camera. We shot with an intimate crew which allowed us to fully immerse ourselves in the unique culture of our protagonists.
We pass no judgment on our protagonists, but instead create a medium for them to share their lives and create a richer dialogue with those outside their world.
