Charles MacFarland

Charles MacFarland is an Australian videographer, photographer, and producer who makes films (available on DVD and VHS video formats) through his company Synetech Video featuring naked people in social settings. Locations include naturist resorts and beaches all over the world, including France, the United States, Canada, and Australia. Synetech also has videos about yoga, recreation, family nudity at home, body painting, and naked parties.
His films aim to challenge existing laws on nudity in public places and rethink some traditional moral views on the unclothed human body and sexuality. One of the unique approaches MacFarland has used is interviewing people on the street who witness his film subjects go naked in public. He also has shot his subjects at a distance to see if removing the camera from the film shoot would affect how people respond to the unexpected nudity without knowing the subject is being filmed or they are being filmed. This approach was also used in the Allen Funt film What Do You Say to a Naked Lady? (1960).
Charles MacFarland received a B.S. in Physics at MIT and taught Physics in the Peace Corps in Malaysia. Then he did an M.A. in English at the University of Virginia, after which he emigrated to Australia and taught English and Physics for about 12 years.
In 2003, Charles collaborated with Body Freedom Collaborative in producing Naked In-Sight. Daniel Johnson wanted to produce a film with segments he felt were groundbreaking in film dealing with society's response to public nudity. Charles agreed to provide segments from his various videos on the topic and Mark Storey, BFC's co-founder, directed the film, while Johnson carried out the editing as directed by Storey. Mark Storey, gave this description of the 47-minute documentary in advance of the premiere screening at the 2004 Naked Freedom Film Festival in Seattle: "Australian videographer Charles MacFarland contends that laws against public nudity are obsolete. His films record women and men as they walk naked in public, usually to the amusement and applause of those who pass them by. Naked In-Sight explores MacFarland's vision of a naked society, where offence at mere nudity is a thing of the past.

Gender and body diversity

MacFarland has been criticised for featuring mainly conventionally attractive, younger women in many of his films. This issue was addressed by MacFarland in the film Naked In-Sight.

Sexual content

For many naturists and nudists, it is taboo to include footage of nudity which includes overtly sexual activities in the context of nudist/naturist film. Controversy surrounded Charles' latest work called "Adventures in Freedom 3", which included nudity in some sensual and sexualised contexts. Some of the films include segments which include female masturbation. Nude & Natural magazine, a publication of The Naturist Society subsequently dropped advertising for his body of films.

Charles later released a series of films which had more sensual and sexual content in a series called The Free & Wild. These videos were not marketed as purely naturist films. On his Web site, Charles says of this latest video series: "The Free & Wild videos are not really naturist videos, but they celebrate the liberation which is the foundation of naturism. Naturism can never succeed as long as women are not free." [1]

Most movies were rated by the Australian OFLC, except for some rated PG or less.

• Free & Wild series
  • Free & Wild 8: Sexy Fun, rated R, 82 min
  • Free & Wild 7: Peace and Freedom, rated R, 86 min
  • Free & Wild 6: Sensations, rated R, 80 min
  • Free & Wild 5: Girls Together, rated R, 84 min
  • Free & Wild 4: Girl Touch, rated R, 75 min
  • Free & Wild 3: Sensory Wonder, rated R, 56 min
  • Free & Wild 2: Spirit in Motion, rated MA15+, 61 min
  • Free & Wild 1: Party Naked, rated R, 56 min
• Naturism in the Raw series
  • Naked Fun (2 DVDs), rated PG, 180 min
  • Free Parties (2 DVDs), rated PG, 180 min
• Naturist Resorts & Beaches series
  • The Grand Barn, rated M, 74 min
  • Running Out of Clothes, 2002, rated PG, 57 min
  • Freedom Weekends, 2001, rated PG, 66 min
  • Naked Lifestyles 2, rated PG, 55:10 min, Sept 1995
  • Naked Lifestyles 1, rated PG, 45:40 min, June 2004
  • Surrender to the Sun 2, rated PG, 53 min
  • Surrender to the Sun 1, rated PG, 53 min
  • Party Night and Day, rated M, 64 min
  • Nude Beaches of Australia, rated PG, 57 min
  • River Island Nature Retreat, rated PG, 56 min
• New Directions series
  • Naked Yoga, rated PG, 78 min
  • Visions of Yoga, rated PG, 85 min
  • Body Love Mud Art, rated M, 58 min
  • The Gathering Spirit, rated PG, 49:!2 min, June 1994
  • Life in Eden, 2001, rated PG, 58 min
• Czech Video series
  • Czech Naturist Paradise 3, rated PG, 57 min
  • Czech Naturist Paradise 2, rated PG, 64 min
  • Czech Naturist Paradise 1, rated PG, 58 min
  • Czech Freedom 2, rated PG, 76 min
  • Czech Freedom 1, rated PG, 53 min
• Previews from Synetech, 58 min, featuring 3–4 minutes from the first 13 Synetech titles, plus extra footage on the Naturist France Deluxe video series!
• Naked Dance II, rated PG, 49:44 min, March 1998
• Sensual Health II, rated PG, 56:18 min, June 1997
• Sensual Health I, rated PG, 53:00 min, May 1996
• Naturist France Deluxe series
  • Vol 8: La Petite Brenne, rated PG, 40:26 min, March 1998
  • Vol 7: Roshelle in France, rated PG, 57:46 min, Dec 1997
  • Vol 6: Domaine Le Clols, rated PG, 37:48 min, April 1997
  • Vol 5: Return to La Sabliere II, rated PG, 54:23 min, Dec 1996
  • Vol 4: Return to La Sabliere I, rated PG, 54:58 min, Dec 1996
  • Vol 3: Belezy, rated PG, 52:15 min, March 1996
  • Vol 2: Laborde, rated PG, 56:35 min, Jan 1996
  • Vol 1: La Sabliere , rated PG, 58:30 min, Dec 1995
• The Circle of the Earth (Naked Dance 1), rated PG, 48:52 min, Feb 1994
• Naked Paradise, rated PG, 48:10 min, Aug 1993
• Magical Nudes, rated PG, 40:28 min, June 1993
• Summer's Garden, rated PG, 40:23 min, Sept 1992
• Beauty of the Nude and Goddess of the Earth Combination Video, 60 min
• Goddess of the Earth, rated PG, 30:25, March 1992
• The Beauty of the Nude, rated PG, 25:36 min, July 1991

• Natural in Paradise by Charles MacFarland

The following reviews are available on Charles MacFarland's Web site [1]

• Reviews of Life in Eden and Freedom Weekends appeared in The Naturist Society's Nude & Natural quarterly magazine, issue 21.2, Winter 2001 – By Mark Storey
• Review of Running out of Clothes appeared in The Naturist Society's Nude & Natural quarterly magazine, issue 22.3, Winter 2002–03 – By Mark Storey
• Review of Naked Yoga appeared in The Beverly Hills Outlook A Biweekly review of the arts and culture in Southern California – By Charles Loneberger