SPARK! A BURNING MAN STORY with filmmaker Jessie Deeter

Guest Bio

Deep in the dusty expanse of the Nevada desert, over 60,000 people from around the world join together in a weeklong bacchanalia of art, self-expression and music. The once forsaken landscape is transformed into a temporary Shangri-La that doesn’t end until a towering effigy is set alight and burned to the ground in a ritual frenzy. This is Burning Man.

Originally imagined as an experiment in creating a utopia where the restrictions of modern life - the nine-to-five rat race, laws and confining societal norms - vanish, the event’s popularity and scope has now exceeded even the creators’ wildest dreams.

SPARK: A BURNING MAN STORY brings audiences behind the scenes of the legendary celebration, shining a light on the triumphs and challenges of the artists fighting harsh realities to keep their ideals of unbridled freedom and community alive.

Jessie Deeter, Director & Producer

Jessie Deeter is a seasoned documentary producer, director and journalist who recently produced REVENGE OF THE ELECTRIC CAR, which debuted at the 2011 Tribeca Film Festival, had a successful theatrical run and aired on PBS’s Independent Lens in April 2012. She produced, WHO KILLED THE ELECTRIC CAR?, premiering at the 2006 Sundance Film Festival and later released by Sony Pictures Classics. Deeter directed and produced DEATH BY FIRE, a documentary that premiered for PBS’s FRONTLINE season airing nationally in 2010 and 2011. Deeter holds a Masters in Journalism from the University of California, Berkeley. She spent nine months in Oman, Morocco and Tunisia as a Fulbright Scholar in 2010-2011.