Pahokee

In an isolated town in rural Florida, four teens experience the joys and heartbreaks of their last year in high school. 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. "An excellent portrait of a town fueled by collective dreams of living elsewhere" (Baltimore Magazine). "Lucas and Brenan's debut captures youthful ambitions with abundant energy and variable insight" (The Hollywood Reporter).