Pahokee
with Ivete Lucas and Patrick Bresnan

Join us for a week-long virtual engagement with the 2019 Sundance Competition documentary, Pahokee, with a FREE virtual Q&A with directors Ivete Lucas and Patrick Bresnan, moderated by HCAS Artistic Director Jessica Green at 7pm CST on April 29th on the Monument Releasing YouTube Page.
Use code "houstoncinema" to receive the HCAS screening price of $12, if it has not already applied.
Members get an additional $2 discount with special offer code! If you are a member and did not receive the code, please reach out and we will be happy to resend.
Ivete Lucas and Patrick Bresnan paint a detailed and astonishing portrait of Pahokee, a rural village in the Everglades, Florida. Very close-knit, its inhabitants fight to face fragile financial situations and an uncertain future. Through a precise observational approach, the film captures the daily life of this city restoring a rich palette of nuances. From sporting events to beauty contests at school, the filmmakers explore social and community rituals, and how gender and identity are portrayed as new stories are created. Going well beyond the teaching of Wiseman, which Lucas and Bresnan have perfectly integrated, the film seems to bathe in the singular atmosphere of a song of Gil Scott Heron, with lingering hints of rural blues tinged with urban echoes. A complex multi-faceted work that recalls both the raw social realism of the new American cinema and the neorealist style. Pahokee is the powerful portrait of a forgotten America, absent from the current political discourse.
Country, Year | United States, 2019 |
---|---|
Director | Ivete Lucas and Patrick Bresnan |
Cast | NaKerria Nelson, Jacobed Martinez, Junior Walker, BJ Crawford |
Producer | Ivete Lucas, Patrick Bresnan, Maida Lynn, PJ Raval, Laurence Reymond |
Language | English |
Runtime | 110 MINS, SECS |
Genre | Documentary |
Subject | Photography |
Event Type | Film, Panel |
Special Guests
Ivete Lucas & Patrick Bresnan

Born in Brazil, Ivete Lucas started her career in Mexico and now lives in the United States. Her short documentary, The Send Off, co-directed with her partner Patrick Bresnan, premiered at Sundance in 2016 and won jury awards at SXSW, AFI Fest, and the San Francisco International Film Festival. Skip Day, which she directed and produced, premiered at Quinzaine des Réalisasteurs in May 2018. The duo was named among Filmmaker Magazine’s 25 New Faces of Independent Film in 2016.
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. Their short The Rabbit Hunt premiered at Sundance in 2017 prior to competing at the Berlinale and has won over 20 awards including The Cinema Eye Honor. In 2017, he and Lucas directed the short Roadside Attraction which premiered at Toronto International Film Festival.