Every year, a city of 70 000 people explodes out of the Nevada desert- and disappears without a trace. Burning Man is the most outrageous, most creative, most extreme gathering on earth. As its 40th anniversary approaches, we go behind the spectacle, behind the myth, and into the beating heart of Black Rock city.
Miguel is the architect racing against the clock to build Burning Man’s iconic Temple, a tower which is 14 metres high and 30 metres wide, and a sacred space where tens of thousands come to surrender their deepest grief, memories and words, before watching it burn to the ground. For Miguel, the build is also a deeply personal journey of healing.
Meanwhile, Gerald is the big-dreaming entrepreneur who rolls in with a fire-breathing dragon Art Car and a plan to reinvent sustainable living in the desert, through a set of eco-homes. But Burning Man doesn’t care about your plans; it has its own set of rules.
Alongside attendees experiencing the spectacle for the very first time, the film plunges into the soul of Black Rock City- its hidden neighbourhoods, monumental art installations, world-class electronic music, and fiercely spiritual atmosphere. The founders of Burning Man trace the events’s roots in Dadaism and Surrealism, championing a radical alternative way of living. It’s a city where letting go is the only rule. But beneath the euphoria, a vital question looms: can a city built on self-expression and freedom truly honour its founding principle of Leave No Trace- and what does it cost the fragile desert when it doesn’t?
Burning Man is no run-of-the-mill festival. For one week of every year, thousands of people descend upon Black Rock, a desert north of Nevada for this unique celebration of music and contemporary art.
More info