HBO's 4-Hour 'The Man Will Burn' Engages but Sanitizes Burning Man

Q: What recent financial crises and deadly incidents at Burning Man did the new HBO documentary choose to ignore?

The documentary is criticized for largely stopping at the 2023 festival and sidestepping the organization’s more recent financial distress and later deaths. On the financial side, critics point to Burning Man’s 2024 and 2025 troubles: tickets reportedly did not sell out in either year, a sharp warning sign for an event that had long depended on strong advance demand. In late 2024, the Burning Man Project also launched a $20 million fundraising drive, and reports said it was still facing a roughly $14 million gap by December as it tried to stabilize finances for 2025. On deadly incidents, the series is said to omit several recent cases after the period it covers. Those include the death during the rain-disrupted 2023 event being treated only lightly, and then later fatalities not addressed at all: a woman who died on the opening day of the 2024 event, an electrocution death in 2025, and the 2025 death of 37-year-old Vadim Kruglov, which authorities were treating as a homicide. More broadly, reviewers argue that by avoiding those episodes, the film misses a chance to examine whether Burning Man’s operational model, safety culture and finances are under deeper strain than its polished visuals suggest.

3 articles · Updated · Hollywood Reporter · Jul 8

Four hours of HBO’s "The Man Will Burn" deliver striking access to Burning Man’s leaders, artists and bureaucracy, but the review says the series never turns that material into a rigorous, coherent portrait.
The documentary tracks the 2021 festival cancellation, a renegade event, the 2022 return and the rain-hit 2023 gathering, yet repeatedly softens conflict around governance, privilege and the event’s Silicon Valley dependence.
Marian Goodell, Kimbal Musk and first-time attendees provide entry points into Burning Man’s culture, but the review argues their storylines are resolved too neatly and often feel closer to promotion than interrogation.
Despite vivid footage of a Nevada pop-up city that can top 80,000 people, the series is judged fun and well shot but too shallow to probe Burning Man’s deeper political, financial and social strains.