‘Finding Her Beat‘ Screens at Newport Beach Film Festival and as apart of Sunday’s screening will feature Taiko drumming.
‘Finding Her Beat‘ Screens at Newport Beach Film Festival and as apart of Sunday’s screening will feature Taiko drumming at Big Newport at 12:15 in Auditorium 5.
‘Finding Her Beat‘ was made by a predominantly female/nonbinary, largely Asian-American and LGBTQ filmmaking team and cast, when marginalized gendered and people of color are severely underrepresented in film. For thousands of years women have been locked out of Taiko drumming as it was believed that the drumming style was in order for the gods to hear their playing and only men were allowed to be priests in the Japanese tradition.
‘Finding Her Beat‘ was directed by Dawn Mikkelson (‘Risking Light,’ ‘The Red Tail’), and Keri Pickett (‘First Daughter and the Black Snake,’ ‘The Fabulous Ice Age’) also the director of photography, produced by Jennifer Weir (Executive Director of TAM, Artistic Director of Enso Daiko) and Dawn Mikkelson, additional cinematography by Shiho Fukada (‘Mosaic Street’), Caroline Mariko Stucky (‘Caissa’), Dawn Mikkelson, with original music by Me-Lee Hay (‘Better Watch Out,’ ‘Last Tree Standing) and edited by Dawn Mikkelson, Sam Kaiser (‘Road to Damascus,’ ‘Inside’), Keri Pickett, and Carrie Shanahan (‘Irv de Toilette,’ ‘Goodbye Hello’).
In speaking with the filmmakers, we discuss cultural appreciation versus cultural appropriation, why this is only now opening up to women in the Western World and the community work they are doing in order to spread the message of Taiko drumming along with their charity work.
‘Finding Her Beat‘ Sun, Oct 16th, 12:15 PM at Big Newport 5, in Newport Beach, CA.
Follow Newport Beach Film Festival on Twitter @nbff and on Instagram @newportbeachfilmfest.
Visit the official website for ‘Finding Her Beat‘ at www.herbeatfilm.com.
