new burning man DOCUMENTARY (with review from SF Guardian)

[obonin]

SCREENING at CELLSPACE JUNE 28th 2008 at 8PM:

TRAILERS FOR THE FILM:
http://madnomadfilms.com
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BdDTymRJMrg
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dz6WV8tnDds

Also posted on Laughing Squid:
http://laughingsquid.com/dust-and-illus ... screening/

http://www.sfbg.com/blogs/pixel_vision/ ... key_c.html

A new film about Burning Man – Dust & Illusions, which has its first public screening tomorrow night at CELLspace in a benefit for the fire arts collective Flaming Lotus Girls – revives questions about whether the rapidly growing event has missed an opportunity to transform itself from the best party on the planet into an important and enduring sociopolitical movement.

San Francisco filmmaker Olivier Bonin has been shooting footage for the film (which is still in rough form and awaiting final editing and a soundtrack) for more than four years. Much of his time has been spent with the Flaming Lotus Girls, who we were each embedded with when I did a nine-month immersion journalism project with the group in 2005.

Bonin has collected some amazing archival footage from the event’s early years and he scored insightful interviews with significant originators such as John Law and Jerry James, offering viewers a sense of what a collaborative effort the creation of the modern event was. Founder Larry Harvey comes off as sort of the last man standing and the often uncomfortable interview footage with Harvey certainly doesn’t help dispel the accusations that there’s a leadership vacuum at the heart of an event that has come to consume so much financial, emotional, and creative capital in San Francisco.

I saw Dust & Illusions two weeks ago during a screening at the Mission-based film project Rough Cuts, in which an invited panel of guests gave Bonin feedback in a structured forum. The group included some of the film’s stars, including Chicken John and Jim Mason, who led the Borg2 revolt that serves as the main conflict in the film.

Everybody liked the film, and everyone agreed that Harvey didn’t do himself or the organization any favors, chain-smoking through his interviews and sometimes coming off as petulant, obtuse, or impervious. But the film is far from a hit piece, celebrating the beloved and bemoaned event while musing about its potential for more.

“To me, Burning Man is still a unique and important thing, but isn’t it going to dry out if they don’t keep reinventing themselves from a leadership standpoint?â€

[Kinetik V]

The documentary looks like it's worth watching...I know the trailer caught my attention.

And one more thing. This is no longer Larry Harvey's event. He may think he's pulling the strings and running it...but he's not.

[obonin]

Larry's not pulling the strings anymore, but he did take it nowhere, instead of respecting his own dreams and philosophies of turning BM into something that could change things into a more profound way. Now BM is on the edge, of just slowly dying and be remembered as the best party and vacation (ever for some), or re-inventing itself and choose a focus.

Hopefully the film will help people think a little about the event they love and hate so much, and maybe write to the ORG, who on the other end, is still strongly affecting what BM becomes.

In the end it's not about Larry, but about everyone that's creating a community and decides to lead it on their own, thinking they can decide what others would want. It's about everyone else in the Burning Man organization who is just following his path, everyone in the community that's complaining but just contemplating. If we're able to build the biggest stuff out there, and spend all our energy organizing camps, and fundraisers, etc... why not spend 5 minutes telling these people that we think they ought to let the community be more involved.

If you feel you have something interesting to say about this all, come at the screening, we'll have an open discussion afterwards.

Olivier.

[Kinetik V]

I'm too far away to attend the screening as much as a group of us would like to. But I forwarded those trailer links on to someone I know who is working through the process of becoming a BM regional contact...needless to say that person is looking forward to seeing the film.

[Ron]

Any odds of a Seattle screening? I'd love to see the flick but ain't going to be able to make it to SF anytime soon. Too much bandwidth dedicated to my next trip to the playa, he said with an ironic smile...


Ron