In the short documentary Dumpster Archaeology, viewers follow the charismatic punk rock oddball Lew Blink as he embarks on dumpster diving excursions in dimly lit alleys. With an unrelenting passion for uncovering the last true stories hidden within the refuse left in these trash-strewn landscapes, Lew considers himself a “Dumpster Archaeologist,” meticulously connecting the dots and hunting down the secrets others have discarded. The alleyways transform into an endless playground of mysteries, inviting us to ponder the profound questions of privacy, excess waste, and the stories we leave behind. This documentary offers a unique perspective on our value of material possessions and how we conceal aspects of our lives. As we journey with Lew Blink, Dumpster Archaeology prompts reflection on the human experience, privacy, and the often overlooked narratives embedded within the refuse of our society.
Following it’s sold out screenings at the 2024 Slamdance Film Festival, Nick L’Barrow spoke with director Dustie Carter and cinematographer Mike Dalton about their documentaries unique visual style, their cinematic influences, and their response to “the best question they’ve been asked”.
Nick: It’s a pleasure to meet you both, and I appreciate you taking the time to chat today! I’m curious to find out how you initially connected with Lew. How did Lew’s story come about to you?
Dustie Carter: Oh, Lew’s story! Mike and I had just come off of a project, and we were looking for something cool to shoot. And in St. Louis, which is where we are based, is a really small town. So if anybody’s interesting, somebody will let you know where they are and how to get a hold of them!
And that’s basically what happened. A buddy of mine said, “Hey, you gotta meet this guy, Lew.” And I did, and I immediately knew, straight up as soon as we had coffee with him, we had to tell his story.
Nick: I find his sense of curiosity and finding stories within his dumpster dives so interesting. And I also feel like you can draw that same parallel, especially with documentary filmmaking. It’s all about diving into somewhere completely unknown and trying to find a story. Did you find that there were those kind of parallels as you were making this documentary?
Dustie Carter: Yeah, definitely. There’s this sense of like, almost uncovering the mystery. A lot of documentary filmmaking is uncovering a story. So, in a sense, we’re capturing Lew uncovering something, as we’re uncovering Lew’s story! I totally see the similarities for sure.
Nick: Mike, I found the aspect ratio, aesthetic, and overall way you shot this documentary so visually engaging – especially compared to so many conventional documentaries! What was the decision behind capturing Dumpster Archaeology in such a unique visual way?
Mike Dalton: Yeah, I think the aspect ratio – I wish we had a reason other than we just typically love that aspect ratio! We love tall frames that allow you to shoot that way.
Dustie Carter: I mean, there’s pretentious, dumb thing where it’s a square, like a dumpster [laughs]. So, if somebody really wants to get into it, if we have to be really professional, that’s it.
Mike Dalton: A lot of projects we’ve been shooting around that time, or music videos we have been inspired by, we’re all in that aspect ratio. And then just the visual style itself was because we wanted to try our best to push this thing as far as we could. There’s obviously some Verite, dark moments in there. Which is what we kind of had to do when we were running around with Lew and had to be on our toes! But everything else, we wanted to figure out the coolest way to frame the composition first, and then lighting, and you know, just kind of fell into that style.
Nick: Regarding inspirations, obviously one shot I noticed was the Spike Lee-dolly shot with Lew moving towards the camera. What are some cinematic inspirations for you both?
Dustie Carter: I think in some sense, Lew himself inspired a lot of the wacky stuff we tried out. He’s just a weird, interesting guy. And so, a lot of what we wanted to do is capture that in the weirdest and most interesting way.
But I’m a fan of stuff that Michel Gondry does. Spike Jonze. I mean, obviously, Spike Lee. We really wanted to make this film fun and interesting, and I think a lot of people have inspired that.
Mike Dalton: And we’ve been telling the story for that sequence in particular at the festival, that this was like one of the last things we shot. We had this long hiatus where we ran out of funding, there was COVID. A lot of things happened. And then our editor [Chent], who is back here with us…
It was at this point where Dustie and Mike separated from each other in the Zoom call frame to reveal a stuffed mannequin on a couch behind them, with an iPad head showing a pre-recorded video of their aforementioned editor, Chent, turning his head and smiling at random intervals. An unexpected, and hilarious visual gag!
Mike Dalton: [laughs] We’ve been waiting for the right segue!
Nick: Holy shit, that’s amazing!
Dustie Carter: Yeah, unfortunately, Chent had to leave as he has a project that got into South x South West that required his immediate assistance and editing prowess. So, he sent us a video of his face to make sure he could get involved in this chat!
Nick: I didn’t even realise his head was moving! I love this!
Mike Dalton: Like, he’s [Chent] has been with us at this festival, and it’s been cool to tell this part of the story, because like I said, we started in January 2020. We had one shoot day that was funded with a very small crew. And then our funding fell through, and obviously COVID happened. But a couple of years later, Chent just still went out with the limited footage he had…
Dustie Carter: And he brought a tone to it that really crafted what we thought was interesting. He’s a big piece to why this thing even got finished in the first place. Because it was tough. He was gonna put it together, like, not having a lot of support. 80-90% of the film is just us with the production part of it.
We had one day of interviews. We would try and rope random people in here and there, just to help us and be and extra hand. Honestly, if we could show you some of the rigs and stuff, you’d be like, “How did these guys do this?”
Mike Dalton: But it’s like, him having that edit put together with gaps for us, it almost allowed us to show it in kind of a more narrative style. There’s this line where Lew’s talking about being drawn by the great magnet. And we’re both like, what’s the weirdest, wackiest way we can showcase that visually? That’s how that whole scene came to life.
Dustie Carter: Yeah, where he is literally getting pulled to the dumpster.
Nick: You’ve both mentioned the festival a couple of times. How has the Slamdance Film Festival experience been? And what has the reception to the doco been like?
Dustie Carter: Oh, man. Slamdance has been really, really sick. Really awesome filmmakers here. I mean, honestly, I’m jealous of most of them! Because there are world class films here, and everybody is so nice and so accommodating.
And then the reception – we’ve had like nearly two sold out screenings. And people, to our face at least [laughs], say that they love the film. I don’t know what they’ve been saying behind closed doors! But it’s mostly been positive, you know. We’ve been really happy and really stoked that Slamdance threw our film in front of a bunch of people.
Mike Dalton: Yeah, it’s awesome. I mean, to his point, the community is just amazing. Like, the first day was very overwhelming. I think just, we’ve never been to Park City. Getting the lay of the land. But then once you connect with the right people – like Slamdance specifically, you go anywhere and see the Slamdance lanyard, you’re in good hands. Everyone’s super nice!
Nick: I want to wrap up on a bit of a hypothetical-type question. Looking back over everything you’ve made the decision on whether to throw out or keep, then choosing to throw it out into a dumpster, what do you think you would be most intrigued for Lew to find and discover more about?
Dustie Carter: Oh, man. This could get really interesting here. That’s a great question. That’s honestly been one of the best questions we’ve been asked.
Here’s probably the weirdest thing, honestly. I think most of it is how I feel embarrassed by the amount of waste that I produced. And, you know, I try to do my best, but if Lew was telling a story about me, he’d be like, “Does this dude care about anything?” Because I don’t really keep a lot of things. Like even our Slamdance passes and stuff. I probably won’t keep those. I don’t really have sentimental value to a lot of stuff. That was interesting!
Mike Dalton: I don’t know! Like Dustie said, it’s probably the best question we’ve been asked! I haven’t really thought about it. I will say though, after meeting Lew and listening to his story, it definitely makes you think a lot about what you throw away. Like, definitely shredding credit cards and really important paperwork.
Personally, I typically donate a lot of s tuff. So maybe I’m throwing it away, but it becomes another person’s story.
Dustie Carter: That’s such a solid question! It makes you wonder, you know, what is your trash saying about you? The stuff you throw away is private and there is this kind vale that is lifted that is the true story. You can’t really hide from the trash!
Thank you so much to Dustin and Mike for their time! Dumpster Archaeology played at the 2024 Slamdance Film Festival, and will screen at more festivals throughout the year.
