Interview with Directors Dawn Mikkelson and Keri Pickett for the film “Finding Her Beat” from the Mill Valley Film Festival. Finding Her Beat follows one woman’s dream to gather the top women in Taiko drumming together to finally bring women to the center stage of Taiko, an art form which has been the exclusive realm of men. The film’s journey starts in the American Midwest, where TaikoArts Midwest founder Jennifer Weir, her wife Megan Chao Smith, and award winning drummer Tiffany Tamaribuchi dream of bringing international women rock star drummers to Minnesota to create a new work. Traveling to Japan, Tiffany begins her quest to seek out female rock stars in Taiko.
Envisioned as a character-driven documentary, we will explore the lives of these women, utilizing this singular event drawing them together to look at themes of culture and what it is to be a woman today, while acting as a “gateway” to the beautiful world of taiko drumming. Think Spellbound, (award-winning documentary about spelling bees) for taiko drumming.
“FILM REVIEW”
“Finding Her Beat” is a wonderful dive into the world of Taiko Drumming through the eyes of women who perform it in a predominantly male-dominated field. The film follows different women who have broken the gender barriers of this musical industry to showcase some of the best Taiko drumming in the world. For those that do not know much about this musical field, there’s a lot to learn and be inspired by as you go on a journey with the women who have become professional Taiko Drummers. As we follow the journey of Jennifer Weir, the executive director of TAM during a winter in Minnesota right before the outside of the pandemic, we intimately get to know these great musicians and their struggles to put on a showcase the world’s best female Taiko Drummers. It’s a great film and full of inspiration marked by fantastic performances of female Taiko Drummers. More importantly you get to see the struggles of these musicians coming together during the pandemic and finding a way to perform.
Like all great documentaries the purpose is to educate and there is a lot to learn from this film. It provides a fascinating showcase of musical artistry that is not well known. But this film is also very character driven as we get to know the artists involved. It’s a film that should be watched by everyone and shows us how that gender roles shouldn’t matter when it comes to music. Director Dawn Mikkleson does a wonderful job bringing us into the lives of these musicians connecting us as an audience that is not often seen in films. It’s hard not to be inspired by this film and hopefully it will lead to bigger and better things for these amazing women who are great artists in the field of Taiko Drumming.
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