DIG WE MUST

DIG WE MUST

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DIG WE MUST

DIG WE MUST

DIG WE MUST is a film about life, death, and record collecting with the foremost vinyl record collectors of our time. DWM features a charismatic and colorful cast of characters who are jointly consumed by the same "sweet disease," as one of them calls it. None of these people want to be cured, no matter how addictive, consuming, or out-of-control their passion has become. They have devoted their lives to music, and the never-ending hunt for records which can become a way of imposing meaning and order on the uncertainty of this world.

Dig We Must is a national portrait of the obsessed. From the rural small town of Grants Pass, Oregon, to Brooklyn, NY, this film tells the story of individual collectors of vinyl records. It is an uplifting portrayal of mania for appreciators of a lost art and culture. Driven by Aaron Levinson and his obsession, he takes us on this journey that literally has no end. Watch Dig We Must if you wish to be surprised by the inspired madness of your neighbors.

a film about people  and

the records that collect them

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Meet the Diggers

  • Rich Medina

    Newark, NJ

  • Kristine Barilli

    Brooklyn, NY

  • Soul Sister

    New Orleans, LA

  • Kevin Donan

    Hollywood, CA

  • Diana Ratsamee

    Seattle, WA

  • Eddie B

    Charlestown, MA

  • Ian Dapiaoen

    Seattle, WA

  • Andrew Yeomanson

    Miami, FL

  • Anthony Warner

    Seattle, WA

  • Val Shivley

    Philadelphia, PA

  • Lil Dave

    Philadelphia, PA

  • Hong Kwon

    San Francisco, CA

  • Greg Caz

    Queens, NY

  • Farah Darliette

    Boston, MA

  • Dr. Ike

    New Orleans, LA

  • John Tefteller

    Grant’s Pass, OR

  • Thanh Tan

    Seattle, WA

  • Ayana Heaven

    Brooklyn, NY

  • Rene

    Boyle Heights, CA

  • Booboo

    Boyle Heights, CA

Meet the FILMMAKER

Aaron Luis Levinson

Director

Aaron Luis Levinson is a multi-Grammy award winning music producer and documentarian. He is known for founding the Spanish Harlem Orchestra and producing the pioneering jazz project The Philadelphia Experiment. Levinson has taught at Temple University and the University of the Arts. His work in documentary film began on the legendary Bontoc Eulogy directed by Marlon Fuentes.

Director’s Statement

DIG WE MUST in the final analysis is a movie about the incorrigible persistence of the human condition. As a lifelong record collector this movie in practice has proven to be part mystery novel and part self-exorcism. I accepted the sage writer’s advice that we have one unique book inside of us, and unsurprisingly it’s also the story of our life.

I embarked upon DIG WE MUST hoping that the old edict would prove equally prophetic for directing a film. What I discovered was that despite the dizzying degree of variety and complexity that separate all these people it was impossible not to ultimately conclude that it was the similarities that were even more striking. So whatever else this film did it took me on a path into the machine room of existence and revealed how much of our childhood dreams and aspirations still propel us, at times perhaps unknown even to ourselves.