Spark: A Burning Man Story

I had heard of Burning Man over the years, but never paid it much attention. As do many people, I just assumed that it was mainly a gathering of ex-hippies to get together to take drugs and have sex. This movie disabused me of that idea. I was impressed with the dedication of most participants to provide creative works of art, some of them quite stunning. I was taken with the one sculpture of a female form that was transparent and could be lighted from the inside. I think that ultimately became a public sculpture.

Another sequence detailed the creation of a large 12' metal heart that had metal scales that allowed people to enter the inside. The amount of work and skill that went into that I am thinking exemplified what went into each of the hundreds of projects. There were a lot of fun projects shown as well, like a metal-framed snail that motored around, and a large ship. Lights and sounds abound as well as every imaginable dress (or lack thereof).

This is no trivial festival. The 2012 Burning Man, filmed here, drew over 60,000 participants. Assembling that many people without total chaos, especially in an environment encouraging free expression, is a testament to the skills of the organizers and the quality of the participants. As shown, there were five people working full time throughout the year to organize this, as well as hundreds of volunteers. There were some behind the scenes frictions noted, but nothing of significance when considering the scope of this festival.

The highlight is of course the burning of the figure that the festival takes its name from. With sixty thousand people surrounding the man at night the light show, fireworks, and the ultimate burning came through as a spectacular event. The reaction must be primitive, dating to cavemen dancing around fires. I can hardly imagine how powerful the actual experience was for those who were there. Trying to understand the significance of having put such great effort into constructing the man only to burn it caused me to scratch my head a bit. I suppose it is meant to illustrate the transience of existence and all physical things. Maybe the effort to provide 60,000 people with a memorable experience is reason enough.

There are ten principles that underpin this festival. The two that I find most interesting are the ban on money and commercialization and leaving the desert in as good or better shape after the festival as it was before.

The film quality and sound of the movie are good.

I am sure that trying to capture more than a small taste of this event is impossible, but I think I got enough of a flavor of it to be able to counter anyone who might try to denigrate it.

This evening a couple friends and I all gathered together to check out Spark: A Burning Man Story at Cinema 21 here in Portland, OR. We were all excited and still glowing from our experiences a couple weeks back in Black Rock City. This year my partner and I started a theme camp and this process provided a whole new appreciation for the Burning Man experience than simply being a participant could provide. I went into this film looking forward to sounding my experiences against a backdrop of historical information and the cinematically captured spirit of my favorite festival on Earth. Unfortunately I was sorely disappointed.

The filmmakers focused a surprising amount of energy on the negativity, stress, drama, and frustration that SOME people experience, to varying degrees, in their work on Burning Man. While some of the artists and administrators that were interviewed maintained a balanced and positive outlook, the bulk of them were so mired in difficulties and stressful situations that their best selves remained hidden from the camera. In addition, emotionally dramatic topics such as the 2012 ticket fiasco, the 'plug-and-play' camps, and the Occupy Wall-Street art played central roles in this film, but are not central to the spirit of Burning Man. In fact, historically, ticketing has been very well handled by the BMorg, 'plug-and-play' camps have a very minimal footprint on the overall city, and the Occupy art was a strong deviation from the status quo at Burning Man where protest art is uncommon, especially protest art that encourages emotions such as anger and animosity. I felt the choice of these topics was strange, but was hoping that later in the film we would be treated to equally compelling footage of the life-affirming, positive qualities of Burning Man.

This wasn't so. While there was certainly a substantial amount of eye-candy (HD footage of the playa and its beautiful inhabitants), these scenes were really just interludes between additional downer shots of the Occupy or PlayaSkool folks struggling on the Playa. The only redeeming thing in this film about Burning Man was Burning Man itself, with its wonderful 10 principles and guiding ideals that still managed to shine through the rather poor lens this film held up to it. If you watched this movie and felt encouraged to experience what Burning Man has to offer, then you absolutely must go, because the reality is infinitely better than this simulacrum.

Burning Man means myriad things to multitudes of people. I would say that the ones who have the most difficulty defining the experience to a "virgin", are probably the most accurate. In my encounters, people who are the most opinionated, are the ones who have never participated.

There are wonderful aerial shots and time lapse sequences accompanied by a brilliant soundtrack. And even though the film is long, I would have liked some coverage of the theme camps.

The filmmakers have achieved what others have long been striving to convey- a comprehensive overview of the essence of Burning Man. A veteran and a "newbie" team up to give us unprecedented access to the movers and shakers of the organization...filling in the rich history of an event that will surely change your life forever.

Burning Man is about freedom, lack of boundaries, openness, that spirit of the 60s, 70s, 80s, and 90s that had more to do with the Dead Kennedy's and Seattle than LA Law and Washington DC. It's truly about art as art not commerce.

Can the unfettered human spirit be captured on film? It would take an extraordinary documentary to even come close: it needs Fellini or Russell as director - what we get is the PBS version - it's not only highly sanitized, as in just too sanitized, it's clearly unclear about who its selling too - it is seriously tepid and works as an historical record but little else - we got a good sense that putting portaloos up in the desert is hard - but little else.

Really its fault lies in picking story lines - if ever there was a great film to be made just by pointing the camera and letting go its this one - seeing the office workings, the planning committee, and then, frankly censored, rather than edited, moments is not what should be up there.

Spark is good publicity for Burning Man by letting you know its there, but this like Taking Woodstock totally misses what freedom is about and chooses instead to box in, and entrap, and just about diminishes the spirit.

There is a great film waiting to be made - and it should be way more unviewable. shockingly joyful, and just plain good old-fashioned anarchic than this - talking heads and modesty doth not a Burning Man make.

SPARK is fantastic -- I loved this movie! I have been curious about Burning Man since I first learned about it. The movie offers one eerie, surreal image after another. Multiple camera crews on the ground and in the air capture the gathering by night and day -- bacchanalian revelry, colorful people in elaborate costumes, incredibly designed 100' high buildings, fantasy cars, giant statues and more.

No spectators are allowed at Burning Man, only participants. No cash is permitted; participants earn their keep by what they bring, and by the art they contribute. In 2012, 60,000 people attended the week-long event in the Nevada desert; it happens at the end of August every year.

There are plenty of laughs. The film follows two ordinary people, young artists who became extraordinary when they took the step of committing themselves to contributing major art pieces to the festival.

The movie includes footage of the first Burning Man on a San Francisco beach in the 1980's, and shows a Board meeting in crisis mode in 2012. We see the groundbreaking and construction of the 2012 event on the 'Playa', before moving on to the incredible coverage and stories at Burning Man.

SPARK is a truly stunning documentary film. Highly recommended.