Landfill as a visual medium

I was over at Port Media today, for my next-to-the-last interview with a candidate.

On the way over, I drove down Low St. from Storey Ave. and caught a whiff of the wonderful landfill. Not only that, there was a big truck sitting at the corner of Crow Lane waiting to turn right ... I was under the impression that all the material had been taken from Everett and there wasn't enough new stuff being generated to cause so many trucks to be there but oh, well.

Anyway, there is a screening of a 20-min. documentary about the landfill on Saturday as part of the Newburyport Documentary Film Festival. It's called "Dumping Billy: The Story of the Crow Lane Landfill."

It's one of a series of short films that will be screened starting at 11:30 a.m. ... which, of course, is exactly when I will be entertaining members of my family at a pre-scheduled picnic to celebrate multiple birthdays.

I'm hoping to get my own personal copy, though. I hear it's very good.

Mary Godfrey, who is from Newburyport, made it as her doctoral dissertation at the NYU Arthur L. Carter Journalism Institute. She now lives and works in New York.

Also scheduled is a 6-minute documentary by Newburyporter Rob Napier, called Princess Royal. That is part of a short-doc screening that starts Sunday at noon.

'This film interprets the meticulous rebirth of the “Princess Royal,” an elegant naval ship model whose structure had become unstable. Seventeen months were required to disassemble, document, and reinstall more than 2,000wooden pieces, all documented in less time than it takes a drop of glue to dry."

Here is the full schedule of films included in the festival.