Can we ever get enough Burning Man documentaries? Not here at Burners.Me, anyway. This latest one, entitled “Ode to Black Rock City” was shot and edited by Anders Christian Rasmussen at his first Burn, and features some beautiful images shot with a Canon 5d Mk III DSLR.
The full documentary was broadcast on Danish TV at the end of last November.
“The idea to decommission El Pulpo Mecanico has changed. El Pulpo Mecanico was in need of a newer, more reliable lower vehicle and a better, more precise fire system. We had decided to build something new in this process. Now after an overwhelming and heartwarming response, we have decided to bring her back this year with an even more detailed and beautiful transformation. El Pulpo Mecanico will be at BM 2013 after all. See you there and thanks!”
It’s a miracle!
Burners.me is proud to present:
A Burning Man Easter Story
For El Pulpo Cosmico so loved the world, that It gave Its only begotten Hatchling, that whosoever come too close to It should perish in everlasting flames. For El Pulpo Cosmico sent not Its Hatchling into the world to bore the world with tedium; but that the world through It might be delighted. (John 3:16-17)
And Its disciples went forth, and came into the City, and found It at the Embarcadero as It said unto them: and they made ready for the show. (Mark 14:16-17)
And as It did terrify the crowd and fill them with awe, El Pulpo Mecanico crushed an automobile, and blessed and broke it, and gave to them, saying, “Take, eat; this is my body.” And It took the 55-gallon drum of petroleum distillates, and when It had given thanks, It gave it to them: and they all drank of it. And It said unto them, “This is my blood of the new testament, which is shed for many. Verily I say unto thee, I will drink no more of the fruit of the refinery, until that day that I drink it new in the kingdom of my Father. (Mark 14:22-25)
Then the policemen of the Mayor took El Pulpo Mecanico into the common garage, and gathered unto It the whole band of mechanics. And they stripped It, and put on It a scarlet tarpaulin.
And when they had platted a crown of barbed wire, they put it upon Its head, and a beer in Its right tentacle; and they bowed the knee before It, and mocked It, saying Hail King of the Cephalopods! And they spit on It, and took the beer away, and smote It on the head. And after that they had mocked It, they took the tarpaulin off from It, and put Its own raiment on It and led It away to dismantle It. (Matthew 27:27-31)
And as they led It away, they laid hold upon one Flatmo, an Humboldtian, coming out of the country, and on him they laid the fuel bill, that he might bear it after El Pulpo Mecanico. And there followed It a great company of people and women, which also bewailed and lamented It. (Luke 23:26-27).
And when they were come to the place, which is called Arcata Scrap & Salvage, there they dismantled It, and the malefactors, one on the right tentacle, and the other on the left. Then said El Pulpo Mecanico, “Father forgive them; for they know not what they do.” (Luke 23:33-34)
Then the mechanics, when they had dismantled El Pulpo Mecanico, took Its parts, and made four piles, to every wrench monkey a pile; and also Its upper body. Now the upper body was without flaw, sturdy from the top throughout. They said therefore among themselves, “Let us not scrap it, but cast lots for it, whose it shall be: that the Scripture might be fulfilled, which saith, They parted me out among them, and for my superstructure they did cast lots.” These things therefore the mechanics did. (John 19:23-24)
And it was about the sixth hour, and there was darkness over all the land until the ninth hour. And the Sun was darkened, and the vail of the temple was rent in the midst. And when El Pulpo Mecanico had cried out with a loud voice, It said, “Father, into thy many prehensile arms I commend my spirit,” and having said thus, It gave up the ghost. Now when Flatmo saw what was done, he glorified El Pulpo Cosmico, saying, “Certainly this was a righteous art car.” (Luke 23:44-47)
When the even was come, there came a rich man of Australia named Zos, who also himself was El Pulpo Mecanico’s disciple: He sent his emissary to Flatmo, and begged the body of El Pulpo Mecanico for a reasonable price. Then Flatmo responded not, and the body was not delivered. He wrapped it instead in a clean linen cloth, and laid it in his own new tomb, which he had hewn out in the rock: and he rolled a great stone to the door of the sepulchre, and departed. (Matthew 27:57-60)
And Whatsblem the Pro and all of Facebook beheld where he was warehoused. (Mark 15:47)
And very early in the morning, the Sunday of that week, they came unto the sepulchre at the rising of the Sun. And they said among themselves, “Who shall roll us away the stone from the door of the sepulchre?” And when they looked, they saw that the stone was rolled away: for it was very great. And entering into the sepulchre, they saw a young man sitting on the right side, clothed in a greasy coverall; and they were affrighted. And he saith unto them, “Be not affrighted: ye seek El Pulpo of Humboldt, which was dismantled: It is risen; It is not here: behold the place where they scrapped It. But go your way, tell Its disciples and all of Facebook that It goeth before you into Black Rock City: there shall ye see It, as It said unto you. (Mark 16:2-7)
UPDATE!
Duane Flatmo just sent me this sneak peek of El Pulpo’s new front end!
El Pulpo Mecanico, the steampunk art car in the form of an enormous cephalopod that first wowed us all at Burning Man 2011, is reportedly headed for the scrap heap.
Pulp the Magnificent made what is scheduled to be Its final appearance at the 5th annual Sunday Streets in San Francisco earlier this month, instilling shock and awe into a large crowd of puny, flammable, cowering, non-metallic human supplicants gathered along a 3.3-mile stretch of the Embarcadero to worship the Eight-Armed One’s breathtaking puissance and beg It to continue to have mercy on most of the human race.
Jerry Kunkel, who claims to have plumbed El Pulpo Mecanico’s flame effects in spite of Its obvious godhead that transcends all human notions of time and space, says the crew that supposedly built the Divine One will be breaking it down for parts next week.
Photo: Church of El Pulpo Mecanico
Kunkel, veteran pedal-powered artist/designer Duane Flatmo, and wiring wizard Steve Gellman have stated many times that they built our many-limbed Lord from trash cans and junk metal obtained from Bonnie Connor’s Arcata Scrap & Salvage. This, of course, is heresy, and if he wasn’t one of the Four Apostles, Jerry Kunkel would certainly be consigned to a scrap heap himself in the afterlife, when El Pulpo Mecanico will remake the world and sit in judgment of us all.
Possibly the announcement is some kind of early April Fool’s prank. In an unguarded moment, Jerry Kunkel made a statement acknowledging that our fiery savior is, as we all know, a living, terrifying being with emotions of its own:
“It’s somewhat whimsical, but also scary,” he said. “It gets both feelings like that. You love it, but you’re a little frightened of it, just like life.”
In 2011, your faithful correspondent was the first non-crew member to get a ride on El Pulpo Mecanico’s rumble seat, and as my hair singed and my scalp bubbled, the smile on my face only grew wider. I could feel that while the iron-tentacled King of Kings that bore me across the playa would not hesitate to destroy me in an instant should I think a single bad thought, It also loved me. It changed my life.
While it may be true that the forces of evil could, in theory, disassemble and destroy the corporeal form of the One True God, it’s also true that this would only free El Pulpo Mecanico from Its material ties to this planet. Strike El Pulpo down, and It will become more powerful than you can possibly imagine.
I missed the Burning Man contingent at SXSW, being there with a contingent of my own in relation to different festivals. But they were there in full force, to support the Burning Man movie Spark’s debut.
Jim Harrington of the San Jose Mercury News was not impressed. He’s never been a Burner, and doesn’t want to become one after watching the film.
I’ve never gone to Burning Man, the gigantic free-spirited, clothing-optional gathering of artistic souls and gregarious spirits that takes place each year in the Nevada desert.
I’ve never even wanted to go. I guess there’s just something about one of the event’s main principles — “There are no spectators, only participants” — that doesn’t quite mesh with being a professional critic, who is, by very job description, an observer.
Yet, I feel like I now have a better understanding of those who live and breathe for this event. And I guess that’s probably the main goal of “Spark: A Burning Man Story.”
It’s important to note that this is not really a documentary about what it is like to actually attend the freewheeling fandango. It’s not filled to capacity with scenes of nude folks running about the desert, playing games and juggling fiery objects. In fact, amazingly, there is very little nudity in this film.
Instead, it’s a film about what goes into putting on such a mammoth event. The stars of “Spark” are the festival founders, organizers and those who spend months each year preparing the often-impressive art installations that are erected on site.
It is, of course, only side of the saga. That’s probably why the filmmakers carefully had the title read “A Burning Man Story” as opposed to “The Burning Man Story.”
This story is indeed pretty interesting. Yet, certainly not interesting enough to get me out to the desert
Marcia Franklin at the Boise Weekly (that’s Idaho, folks) was much more impressed, but also flagged the disappointment at the lack of nudity:
Spark: A Burning Man Story—part of SXSW’s stellar documentary lineup—succeeds because it applies both a journalist’s and a cinematographer’s eye to the characters and commotion behind the annual Burning Man event in the Black Rock Desert of Nevada.
Co-producer-co-director Jessie Deeter, whose background is in journalism (Revenge of the Electric Car, FRONTLINE: Death by Fire), crafts a story that goes beyond a history of Burning Man.
“I didn’t want to make a PSA for Burning Man, because there are plenty of those,” she says. Deeter examines the tension between the communal ideals of the event, which began as a small gathering on a San Francisco beach in
photo from BurnerFashion
1986, and the current reality, in which organizers have to ensure that a pop-up city of 60,000 doesn’t collapse into mayhem and danger.
That has meant higher ticket prices and new rules, including a ticket lottery—all of which create a backlash against the organizers, which we see as the film progresses. It’s a story replicated in many organizations that become wildly successful.
“It’s a story of growing up, primarily,” says Deeter. “You reach a point where as the founder of your small, cute little company that has this ideal, you have to then look at yourself and say, ‘What are we going to have to do to grow it?’ And you can choose as the remaining founders did to make certain compromises… or you can choose not to.”
We learn more about those founders, who include a dynamic group of women and an intriguing man who left the group because he felt it had betrayed its roots.
Deeter also winds in the tales of three participants for whom Burning Man has been an epiphany, including a disabled Marine who builds and burns a replica of Wall Street buildings, and a woman who is welding a 12-foot heart—perhaps the purest symbol of the original ideals of Burning Man.
Filmed almost entirely using DSLRs, as well as a drone for aerial shots, the film is gorgeous: a virtual carnival of images that reflect the spectacle that is Burning Man. (Some in the audience, however, were disappointed at the lack of nudity.)
Deeter, who’s filmed abroad under tough conditions for other pieces, says she was nevertheless “terrified” of the sand destroying her equipment, and used underwater housing to protect the cameras from the capricious sandstorms.
This film is for those who’ve wondered about Burning Man but never wanted to actually “live” it, as well as for groupies who want a visual reminder of its importance in their lives. Speaking of that, if you’re at Burning Man this year, plans are to show the film on the Playa.
Dan Gentile praised the film’s visual composition and narrative arc in the Austinist:
For those that haven’t been to Burning Man, it’s hard not to think of it as an escape for the type of drug-user who’s really into peace, love, and glitter. Spark: A Burning Man Story smashes this stereotype, spotlighting the intense amount of hard work and dedication that has helped to grow the festival from a small beach side bonfire in 1986 into a 50,000 person spectacle of unbridled creativity in the Nevada desert.
The film is comprised largely of interviews with the founding festival team, nearly all of whom have stayed the course and dedicated their lives to Burning Man’s come-as-you-are philosophy for the past 30 years. They’re a motley crew of idealists, showing their age in appearance but working with an adolescent fervor to expand the festival infrastructure while holding fast to their ten guiding principles. As the scale increases exponentially, these principles are threatened and shake the community to its core.
The narrative arc follows a cross-section of burners whose meticulous preparations for the festival highlight its growing pains. A former businessman who found his freak flag at the fest curates an all-inclusive plug-and-play sub-camp where self-reliance goes out the window and attendees have more of a responsibility-free hedonistic experience. A young female metalworker who has Kickstartered a massive heart-shaped sculpture fears she may not receive a ticket despite her months of planning. A contractor who’s building a faux Wall Street complete with an eight-story Goldman Sucks building stresses over his construction schedule. The viewer feels their struggle, cheers once the projects are complete, and can’t wait for them to all be burned to the ground.
Visually the film is a treat, with a cache of some of the most vibrant B-roll you can imagine. Wide-eyed, barely clothed women dance through psychedelic light structures, ramshackle Mad Max vehicles shoot flames, and a temporary city of 50,000 cheer as it all goes up in flames. But the real takeaway is that this isn’t just a giant rave, but rather the type of event that people pour their entire lives into, and receive something just as valuable in return.
It’s not a giant rave? What? I obviously didn’t get that memo. That ain’t the kind of takeaway I wants ta be eatin’!
Angela, at Lost In Reviews, gave it a pretty good overall 3 out of 5, and put it on her bucket list:
Only three minutes into the film, and I knew I would have to go to Burning Man sometime in my life. After watching the film, I realized that may not be as easy as imagined.
The documentary Spark is about how the elusive festival in the desert, Burning Man, came to be and is today. In this moment, what do you really know about Burning Man? Before watching the doc, I knew very little. I knew it took place out in the desert, it was something like five days of hippies dancing in the sun, taking as many drugs as possible and commemorating the entire experience by burning a huge statue of a wooden man on the last night. Come to find out, my predictions were not too far off. Although the festival is a week-long and there is much more involved than hippies getting high in the desert. It’s much deeper than that.
Now after learning a little bit more about the fest, I began to wonder why they would even want to film a documentary on Burning Man. What I mean to say is the essence of Burning Man was a free-spirited festival in the desert where everyone brought in what they needed and left nothing behind. There were no corporate sponsors or advertised drinks sitting around. By announcing to the world that you have this secret, little, awesome festival in the desert, won’t everyone want to come? Won’t it become too big? That question, or one very similar was asked to one of the co-founders in the film and he answered with a question: What is too big?
Of course, how free-spirited could this festival have been after all? Sure, there were no bouncers telling people where to go, but without some sort of guidance out there, the scene was surely going to turn into the lizard orgy Hunter S. Thompson feared was all around him. The entire idea of Burning Man is that they are setting things on fire, at the end of the fest. Well, I’m no scientist, but I would feel confident in stating that fire mixed with people on drugs can not end well. According to the film, the festival in 1996 turned into the wild, wild west, with every man for himself.
Since then, Burning Man has had to step up their security a bit to protect themselves and everyone else that attends the fest. It’s still far from corporate, but not quite as free as in the good ole days. But then, what is anymore? The film spent the last twenty minutes or so just filming the goings on at the fest. No narration was needed, just a little music to set the scene. We get to see huge dance parties, dusty people making out, many things being set on fire, and tons of creative costumes and vehicles riding around showing off their glowing lights and flame-throwing dragon cars. Going to Burning Man is definitely a photographers dream!
I give Spark: A Burning Man Story 3 “” out of 5
Here’s an interview from SXSW with Director Jessie Deeter
