s_svg.png)
802-681-8499
Fyre: The Greatest Party that Never Happened
The Fyre Festival was supposed to be the event of the decade: a luxury music festival on a private island in the Bahamas, featuring world class musicians, entertainers, food, and accommodations. A massive budget promotional video and shoot, featuring the most famous supermodels in the world, showed the public what appeared to be a world-class can’t miss event.
The event was promoted by creators Billy McFarland and rapper Ja Rule, who spared no expense in marketing, paying millions to huge social media influencers to post about the event. The event sold out
almost immediately, as wealthy millennials viewed it as an impossible to miss opportunity. But neither of the creators had ever put on a musical festival before, and nothing close to this caliber. Problem after problem plagued the process of setting up the massive event, but the public was informed of none of the issues. Guests showed up to the island, expecting luxury, and found cheese on bread instead of 5 star dining, no entertainment whatsoever, and instead of luxury tents, leftover emergency hurricane shelters. It looked like a war zone, and felt like one, too; many drunken guests resorted to looting and vandalism during the night. After guests were sent home, the event’s details blew up on social media, and forever lived on in infamy.
Production wise, I thought this documentary was hugely successful. Careful editing of interviews and fitting b-roll hooked me as a viewer from the start, and kept me interested throughout. The story was captivating, and the editing kept me in suspense and awe of how everything failed so massively. The directors interviewed almost everyone involved, from those at the top of coordinating the event, to the Bahamian chef who was never payed for her extensive hours of grueling work, to guests who attended the event and had a first person view of what happened. The music, text,a and visuals all worked well together and conveyed fitting emotions of anger, tension, and sadness to the viewer. The film wasn’t too short or too long, and I was constantly engaged and felt that nothing about the story was left untold.
​
I would definitely recommend this documentary, and while it was one of only few documentaries I’ve watched recently, I’m very glad I watched it. It tells a story that is relevant in this social media dominated age, and recent enough that viewers remember enough of the story to want to know more about it. The film received overwhelming positive reviews from critics, who agree that the film is worth a watch. At just a little more than an hour and a half, the film is easily watchable in one sitting. I would strongly recommend this film to anyone interested in seeing a captivating, intense, and successful tale of human greed and stupidity.
