Dig film shows in the evening. Proceeds to benefit the Chelmsford Food Pantry.

Thanks to the organizers of the Chelmsford Film Festival for selecting Local Annihilation: How One Scrappy Independent Newspaper Weathered a Pandemic Year as an official selection for 2021. If you haven’t watched the short about the everlasting Dig yet, here’s a short description:

An alternative weekly that fills coverage gaps typically served by community newspapers in addition to the investigative, longform, arts, and music coverage that alts are well known for, DigBoston has a unique and pretty damn outrageous decades-running history. Local Annihilation isn’t about that turbulence though; rather, this short highlights our most challenging year to date, this past one, in an attempt to reflect on the extraordinary efforts taken to keep one small but driven ship afloat.

Interview subjects include Dig contributors and editors and local media stakeholders, with interviews recorded at a safe distance around Greater Boston. Local Annihilation was written, filmed, voiced, and edited by Dig Editor-in-Chief (and co-publisher) Chris Faraone, and mostly filmed during March 2021, one year after the paper temporarily halted its print edition (Dig returned to print last August, and currently publishes biweekly).

LOCAL ANNIHILATION: How One Scrappy Independent Newspaper Weathered A Pandemic Year from Chris Faraone on Vimeo.

The festival takes place at the Chelmsford High School Performing Arts Center on Saturday, Aug 21 in two sessions, with the Dig film showing in the evening. Proceeds to benefit the Chelmsford Food Pantry (Tickets Here). Local Annihilation was also selected for the First-Time Filmmaker Sessions, a virtual festival, and hopefully some others in the future. But for now, we’re excited to be a part of this kind of event here in Mass. Here’s the lineup, which also features the nominated short Landfill: From Guppies to Yuppies (4:40) by frequent Dig photo contributor Henry Dane:

Note: The matinee and the evening show have different films:

AFTERNOON BLOCK 2pm: 128 minutes (Title, Film maker, Length)

• Dust Bunny, by Julie Land 7:38
• Landfill: From Guppies to Yuppies, by Henry Dane 4:50
• Last Time at Liam’s, by Nick Burns 15:23
• Quaran-Teened, by Maya Baudrand 2:58
• Special Dinner by, Haley Pine 14:50
• Common Streets, by Connor Cronk 16:16
• Lost, by Christofer Markos 0:56
• Wonderland, by Padrick Ritch 6:43
• About Steve, by Sammie Doxsey 3:15
• By side By, by Margaret Wiss, Mike Brun 8:25
• The Metamorphosis of a Ghost by, Valerie Langlois 1:58
• Scouts by, Oliver Schaffer 5:58
• Where the Sea met the Sky, by Maddie Billok 2:36
• Reflection, by Avery Marr 9:32
• How Diet Culture has come to affect Teens Today, by Hannah Fuller 9:54
• Crystal Lake, by Rojann Jermaine Portacion 16:18

EVENING BLOCK 7pm: 106 minutes (Title, Film maker, Length)

• The Show’s a Bust, by Robert LeBlanc 19:00
• Type Cast, by Rick Groleau 7:28
• Bent, by Chris Esper 20:54
• The Redeeming Qualities of the Hagfish, by Maddie Ozbourn 16:48
• Perspective: The Effects of Covid 19, by Madelyn Taylor 7:26
• Local Annihilation, by Chris Faraone 22:16
• Dreamgirl, by Jack Hillebrect 5:56
• The Tape by, Tommy Cullen 6:33