dig we must

a film about people
and the records that collect them

WATCH THE TRAILER

About the film

DIG WE MUST is a documentary film about the foremost vinyl record collectors of our time, and the nature of obsession. It features a charismatic and highly diverse cast of characters who are all consumed by the same "sweet disease," as one of them calls it. And none of them want to be cured, no matter how addictive, destructive, or out-of-control their collecting has become. They have devoted their lives to music. The never-ending hunt for records is a way of imposing meaning and order on the chaos of the world.  

SIGN UP FOR THE LATEST NEWS FROM THE BIG DIG

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.