Patrick Bresnan

Directing

Patrick Bresnan

Patrick Bresnan is a visual artist and filmmaker. After a formative period working for prominent Mission School artists Barry McGee (aka Twist) and Clare Rojas, he co-directed the short documentary The Send-Off (2016) with his partner Ivete Lucas. His short, The Rabbit Hunt, world-premiered at Sundance in 2017 before competing at the Berlinale, and has won over 20 awards including The Cinema Eye H…

Known For

Boys StateBoys State · 2020
Boys State
★ 7.12020
MovieDocumentary
This raucous journey into the heart of democracy captures an unusual rite of passage: 1,100 teenage boys from across Texas coming together to build a representative government from the ground up.
First They Came for My CollegeFirst They Came for My College · 2026
First They Came for My College
2026
MovieDocumentary
When the Governor of Florida transforms a beloved public honors college in a political coup, students and professors confront a new reality: their campus is ground zero in a growing nation-wide assault on academic freedom.
Naked GardensNaked Gardens · 2024
Naked Gardens
2024
MovieDocumentary
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.
The ContestantThe Contestant · 2025
The Contestant
2025
MovieDocumentary
In 1996, a 19-year-old Patrick Bresnan enters a local television contest for the chance to visit the set of Baywatch, then the world's most popular TV show. Nearly three decades later, he revisits the home-video footage of his unlikely adventure, offering a personal glimpse into 1990s television and fan culture.
PahokeePahokee · 2019
Pahokee
★ 6.02019
MovieDocumentary
In a small agricultural town in the Florida Everglades, hopes for the future are concentrated on the youth. Four teens face heartbreak and celebrate in the rituals of an extraordinary senior year.
Happiness Is a JourneyHappiness Is a Journey · 2021
Happiness Is a Journey
★ 5.02021
MovieDocumentary
A glimpse into the real lives of warehouse workers on the desolate streets of Austin, Texas, in this dual-screen documentary.
The Curse and the JubileeThe Curse and the Jubilee · 2018
The Curse and the Jubilee
2018
MovieDocumentary
An intimate, arresting portrait of the cursed Appalachian mining town of Ivanhoe, Virginia. The film captures the town as it prepares for the annual Jubilee, a wild 4th of July celebration where families and neighbors let loose and triumph over daily hardships, industrial abandonment, and race.
Skip DaySkip Day · 2018
Skip Day
★ 5.12018
MovieDocumentary
For seniors in Pahokee, a small, mainly African-American industrial town on Florida's Lake Okeechoboee, the Monday after prom is 'Skip Day.' Dozens of the students, miss their lessons, driving 60 miles to hang out and ponder their futures on the windy dunes of the Atlantic shoreline. The film intimately observes the shared joys of communal activity and extravagant display which bind these boisterous teenagers in their rites of passage towards an uncertain adulthood.

Filmography

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