'The Man Will Burn,' Directed by Vikram Gandhi (CC '00) and Emily Selinger (CC '12), Now on HBO

"Imagine that you were put upon a desert," a voice narrates. "You're surrounded by thousands of other people. But together you form a city in which anything that was, was more intensely so."

The trailer for the HBO original docuseries The Man Will Burn—which made its world premiere at Tribeca 2026—evokes suspense and, of course, intensity. Directed and executive produced, respectively, by documentarians and Undergraduate Film and Media Studies alums Vikram Gandhi (CC '00) and Emily Selinger (CC '12), the four-part series premiered on HBO MAX on July 9, 2026.

With exclusive access to Burning Man Project leadership and years of video archives, the series chronicles Burning Man's evolution from its 1986 anarchic countercultural roots in San Francisco to a globally known, 80,000-person spectacle. Unique behind-the-scenes footage follows self-styled "Burners" as they flock to the Nevada desert in hopes of transformative cultural, spiritual, and artistic experiences—and the turmoil they navigate in the face of COVID-19, biblical rains, and the rising threat that an influx of Big Tech money and fame-seeking social media influencers will make Burning Man a victim of its own success. Pushed to its limits, can the unique American social experiment remain operational while staying true to its original values?

With experience covering the emergence of the yoga industry in the US, Gandhi brings his keen critical eye of spiritual movements to The Man Will Burn. After impersonating a fake Indian guru, gaining a following in Arizona, and filming his interactions with devotees, Gandhi released his 2011 documentary Kumaré, which won the SXSW 2011 Audience Award for Best Documentary. He is also known for direction and production on the Obama biopic Barry (2016), the Netflix docuseries Trigger Warning with Killer Mike (2019), and the Netflix documentary on the history of cannabis, Grass Is Greener (2019). Selinger is known for her work on Barry (2016) and Obvious Child (2014). She is the executive producer of Musk, an unvarnished analysis of the tech billionaire, out in October 2026.

To "experience Burning Man from the comfort of your living room" (as Jeanine T. Abraham of Medium described the series' cinematography), stream The Man Will Burn now on HBO MAX.