Documentary on America's largest counter cultural event

This film is the first of two documentaries by Joe Winston on the Burning Man Festival, America's largest countercultural event.

“In style and substance, a terrific piece of work! Try to imagine a combination of ‘Apocalypse Now,’ ‘Woodstock’ and ‘The Road Warrior.’" - Chicago Tribune, August 1996.

For over ten years, this unique gathering has been held in a barren spot of the Nevada Desert. Attracting over 30,000 participants, the burning of the Man culminates a five-day carnival of artistic creativity and deviance from societal norms.

Celebrants dress in costumes, strut naked, dance in the nude, create religions, race in rocket-powered cars, shoot automatic weapons, or do whatever it is they don't get enough of at home. The festival founder refers to this semi-structured anarchy as "a laboratory for reinventing civilization." Experience it on video – it’s cooler and less dusty than actually going out to the desert.

This documentary is an often humorous travel adventure film, providing a guided tour of the Burning Man Festival, in all its wondrous strangeness. Festival organizers and participants each weigh in with a kaleidoscopic variety of viewpoints of just what the festival is really all about. Some argue that Burning Man is a complete utopian society, others blurt out that it's "just another excuse to get naked." As a viewer, you get to decide who's right, but you won't be bored for a moment.