Nude to Me
CBC Gem · Short · 2021
Director
Danny Berish
Producers
Erin Mussolum & Ryan Mah
Cinematography / Editing
Ryan Mah
When filmmaker Danny Berish discovers that his grandparents met at a nudist camp, a search for his family’s beginnings leads him to Canada’s oldest naturist club — and well outside his comfort zone.
The story
High on North Vancouver’s Fromme Mountain, the Van Tan Club is a secluded forest retreat where members garden, swim, hike and spend time together without clothes. Founded in 1939, the club has a long history of welcoming people looking for a different kind of freedom. Now, its longtime members are wondering who will carry that tradition forward.
For Danny Berish, the journey is personal. His grandparents met at a nudist camp in 1949, and that chance encounter changed the course of his family’s life. Hoping to understand their unconventional beginnings, he meets the people of Van Tan and tries the lifestyle for himself.
Warm, funny and disarming, Nude to Me explores body acceptance, belonging and the courage it takes to feel comfortable in your own skin.
Project milestones
Nude to Me premiered at Hot Docs in 2021 and screened at Vancouver’s DOXA Documentary Film Festival and the Vancouver Asian Film Festival that same year. Produced for CBC, it has reached nearly a million views on YouTube since its launch, bringing this personal story of family and body acceptance to an audience far beyond the festival circuit.
