Director’s hopes for Burning Man film tribute

THE director of a new documentary about Burning Man festival hopes the film will serve as a tribute to co-founder Larry Harvey, following his death at the age of 70.

Gerald Fox travelled to the Nevada desert to follow the journey of six artists as they built huge installations for the annual event for the film Burning Man: Art On Fire, shortly after Harvey’s death in 2018.

The filmmaker, who won a Bafta for his South Bank Show film about artists Gilbert and

George, said: “It infused the thing with a sort of a power and emotion that I don’t think it would have had otherwise, because he was obviously the guiding light, the spiritual mentor of all of these artists who had grown up with him and he had helped them.

“So I think they wanted to give something really special back to him.

“You realise it’s a big thing for these people because he created what is like a city, out of nothing comes this huge city, and it’s a different kind of world than people are used to so they have this very powerful experience.”

Fox said he did not think the film would have had the same emotional power if it had not been produced at this time of crisis.

He added of the event, which is not being held this year: “In terms of the art and the creation of these structures and installations, I think we probably got the best you could ever get really.”

Burning Man: Art On Fire is out now on itunes, Amazon Prime, Googleplay and Vimeo on Demand.