working on one... on my own, since july 2004. more at madnomad.net/madlog

not an easy subject for real. decided to make a movie about BM... for reasons i don't remember anymore now. the best reason was that i was not satisfied about any movies i've seen. nothing really in depth. usually the movies just shows what's happening at BM and it's missing :
- either real good playa stories that have happened over the years. brian doherty's book ( www.thisisburningman.com/ ) definetely has good stories, the epic stories, but noone has been working on a film project for 9 years like he did... or maybe someone, maybe harrold blank?? ( www.harrodblank.com/film/main.html ) at least nothing that has come out yet.
- either the movies (that i've seen) are only superficially showing what an event like burning man is and takes to organize....

whatever you experience out there on the playa, or outside of it in relation with burning man might just not be good film material. when making a film, you must be thinking film and then burning man. if you're trying to make a movie about burning man, remember that it's just a film.. it's just images watched by people sitting in regular clothes waiting for certain emotions. plus how could you translate in film the experience you've had at burning man, freaking definetely not by showing how much it takes to organize the event, a movie is a mean to transfer emotions through moving images associated with sound. probably showing one angle through a very limited number of characters is the way most documentaries have been successful. a lot of the documentaries i've seen interview 15 strangers they've met for the first time on the playa, and spend 15 minutes with each of them, what's gonna come out of that? nothing but the basic "it's so great" "most amazing experience i've ever had" "changed my life"... who cares about those comments, no one gets convinced by such comments unless they come after an hour and a half of a successful documentary.

another major aspect that's been missing in the movies i've seen is a critical look at the event. even though the filmmaker might think that this event has changed his life or changed the life of the people he's talked to, he can't just stop there. who is the person who's going there? what cultural background was burning man born in? is it a significant social movement or just the best party around? how did the art become associated with a popular movement like burning man, was it a natural occurence or was it forced upon the participants? what are the interests of the organizers, and what's their leit-motiv? are the organisers just employees doing their job, or real community leaders trying to make a difference? if burning man is simply just nothing else that another event, what differentiates it with other events? haven't the previous movies, newspapers' writing been biased, blind, haven't they forgotten once again than the event is mostly american (5% of the planet...) or are we really looking at a first world unite? aren't the participants exaggerating the importance of the event because they're in the middle of it? isn't it a very exclusive community, even though it claims to be so inclusive? why is there so many people trying to define the event in so many different ways when it might just be an event.. the spiritual experience, the community experience, the fire transformation, the gifting economy, are these just extrapolations, or true cultural movements?

i haven't seen any one of those questions been even asked.

in the middle of that, i'm still kind of lost, if anyone of you know of some good essays or writings, please let me know.

a good link for this tribe:
www.adogandponyshow.com/filmography.html