Naked Gardens

We Can Be Heroes

March 2024 •English

Sometimes, finding your tribe requires a bit of magic. For attendees of a live action role-playing (LARP) camp in upstate New York, the deeply accepting environment has given neurodivergent, queer, and self-proclaimed "nerdy" teenagers the space and community for self-discovery that they have never found anywhere else. As the campers immerse themselves in this imaginative world, they discover inner strength, heal from past traumas, and emerge as the heroes they are meant to be, both in the fantasy realm and in real life.

Inside the Bruderhof

Invalid date •English

In one picturesque village in Sussex, life is very different. There’s no crime, debt or homelessness, everyone has a job but no-one earns a wage, and none of the children watch television, use social media, play video games or have a mobile phone.

Tupac Amaru, algo está cambiando: something is changing

April 2012 •Spanish

Invisible History: Middle Florida's Hidden Roots

May 2021 •English

This film sheds light on the little-known history of plantations and the enslaved in North Florida. It seeks to advance a sense of place and identity for thousands of African-Americans by exploring the invisible history of slavery in Leon County.

Naked Yoga

January 1974 •English

Three young ladies perform yoga without clothes in the open air of Cyprus. Another does the same in a studio. These visuals are interspersed with images of Eastern art, processed for "psychedelic" effect. The narrator relates the practice of yoga to Buddhist philosophy. Preserved by the Academy Film Archive in partnership with British Film Institute in 2012.

Druid Heights

August 2015 •English

Druid Heights is a short documentary film by Marcy Mendelson about a wild & wooly place. California’s hidden bohemia. Where sex, drugs and philosophy thrived among the eucalyptus just a few miles north of the Golden Gate.

A Love Letter to Coopers Cafe

Invalid date •English

During the summer of 2023, my father decided to hang up the boots and walk away from the family business of 25 years. This is my love letter to the cafe in which my family and I have worked, encapsulating the good vibes and cheery nature the business held for a quarter of a century.

Answer the Call

January 2024 •English

When a firefighter comes to your house, chances are that their lives were just like yours not too long ago. 70% of all firefighters in Canada are volunteers, meaning in most cases, they were just eating dinner, coaching a team, or even at their actual job. To raise awareness of the need for volunteer firefighters, "Answer the Call" will showcase the unique lifestyle of volunteer firefighters, and have them shed light on the risks and rewards of living a double life.

Ballymanus

September 2023 •English

10 May 1943. Something is spotted drifting ashore off the coast of Northwest Donegal, Ireland. Something that would change the lives of the local people forever.

Pit Dhuwur

January 2024 •Indonesian

In the heart of Yogyakarta, a tall bike enthusiast takes a stand against the city's lacklustre cycling infrastructure in the city with the "Bicycle Friendly City" label.

The Expose of the Nudist Racket

December 1938 •English

This is a "road show" from 1938. There is no director credited. For a few years in the late thirties, "nudist colony" movies were quite popular on the "sexploitation" circuit. Notice that the girls featured with bare breasts are quite attractive, more so than average people who might be in the colony. These are probably models and aspiring actresses brought in for the movie only. As one producer of the time put it, "If you are going to make a nudist colony movie, bring your own nudists" Notice the title. Nudism is a "racket." an indication of the middle class morality which is imposed on all these movies. Also note how they make fun of the fat woman. This is another aspect of these films.

plant portals: breath

August 2020 •English

"plant portals: breath" is an experimental meditation on the unspoken history many queer and trans people of colour carry daily, connecting bumblebees, colonial trauma, alternate universes and the complicated concept of "rest" to ask: Can nature heal us? Shot entirely on an iPhone, the film is intentional in imagining what is possible, and manifests a reality rooted in mindfulness.“

Dead Asleep

December 2021 •English

Did a remorseful Randy Herman Jr. really commit a brutal murder in his sleep, or was it a convenient cover story? Exclusive access to Herman and his family, the defense and prosecution attorneys, journalists who covered the case, forensic psychiatrists and world experts in violent parasomnia (sleep-walking) give an inside look at the shocking twists and turns of the controversial crime.

Nudist Land

January 1937 •English

The lifestyle of certain peoples in Africa, Bali, Samoa and the Hawaiian Islands, among other places, is examined with respect to the idea that physical perfection is the chief result of those lifestyles. Next, "Hesperia," a nudist camp in Oregon, is shown. "Mr. and Mrs. Average Housewife and Worker" arrive at the camp to escape the ills of modern civilization. Although they are at first hesitant and ashamed to participate, when they are shown proof of the advantages of the "back-to-nature" lifestyle, the couple joins in. The average life of an American nudist is depicted, including nudists shown at various jobs and pursuits, such as hewing trees, building houses, writing, painting and sculpting.

The White Caravan

October 2022 •Italian

The neon sign ‘Circus’ illuminates the wide street of Naples’ suburbs: four circus families were abandoned by the institutions, and now they’re awaiting the pandemic will disappear, like a magic show. The circus has stopped, but their lives go on.

The Creek

January 2018 •English

Filmmaker Warren Harrison captures the memories and experiences of people who grew up as part of a unique community at Greatham Creek, a salt-marsh near Hartlepool in the Tees Valley. One of those who’s memories are recorded is photographer Ian Macdonald whose haunting images of the creek are used in the film along with family photographs, archive film provided by the North East Film Archive and contemporary footage.

Sinatra in Palm Springs

February 2018 •English

Palm Springs, a small desert oasis 100 miles East of Los Angeles was Sinatra's true home for 50 years. During his brief yet turbulent marriage to Ava Gardner his Palm Springs home was center stage. For the rest of his life, the Rancho Mirage compound on Frank Sinatra Drive, was the home he called "My Heaven". Palm Springs still feels the ghost of Frank Sinatra.

Love Exiled

August 2010 •English

On November 4th, 2008, three states - California, Florida and Arizona - voted to amend their constitutions, denying and revoking the rights of same-sex couples to marry. On May 26, 2009, with Canadian allies, gay American families rally at a Vancouver demonstration to protest these amendments that persecute the LGBTQ community. Demonstration organizer Roger Chin relays the California Supreme Court's infamous decision on Prop 8. Subsequent speakers talk about couples living in exile. Weaving elements of public protest and intimate interviews, four families share their stories of how they met, their decision to escape to freedom in Canada, their Canadian experience and their dreams of returning to their home country, family and friends. In the end, the organizer celebrates the freedoms to marry that exists in Canada.

Son of Torum

February 1989 •Estonian

In the same vein as Meri's other documentations, this one takes advantage of the glasnost policy to discuss the social and ecologic impact of the Russian oil industry on the natives and the lands they inhabit.

Cree Way

January 1977 •English

This short documentary examines an innovative educational program developed by John and Gerti Murdoch to teach Cree children their language via Cree folklore, photographs, artifacts, and books that were written and printed in the community. Made as part of the NFB’s groundbreaking Challenge for Change series, Cree Way shows that local control of the education curriculum has a place in Indigenous communities.