BEST MUSIC DOCUMENTARY - Melbourne Documentary Film Festival | JURY PRIZE – Satisfied Eye International Film Festival | BEST DOCUMENTARY & AUDIENCE AWARD FOR BEST DOCUMENTARY – DisOrient Asian American Film Festival of Oregon
Female Solidarity • Women in the Arts • Asian American Identity • Music Performance • LGBTQ Families • Trans-racial Adoption
Date of Completion: 2022 | Run Time: 88 minutes | Language: English & Japanese | Captions: Yes | Includes: Transcript | Directors: Dawn Mikkelson & Keri Pickett | Producers: Dawn Mikkelson & Jennifer Weir | Editors: Dawn Mikkelson & Keri Pickett | Director of Photography: Keri Pickett | Field Producers: Shiho Fukada & Caroline Mariko Stucky | Cinematographers: Shiho Fukada & Caroline Mariko Stucky | Principal Participant: Jennifer Weir
A master of Japanese drumming and a Korean adoptee from Minnesota boldly convene an all-female troupe to perform Taiko, the Japanese drumming art that has been off-limits to women for centuries. As the early menace of Covid rumbles in the background, the group faces down hurdles to prepare for a historic performance in snowy St. Paul. Buoyed by dynamic drum performances and do-or-die spirit, FINDING HER BEAT is an energizing and uplifting story of music, cultural expression and sisterhood.
Educational Media Reviews Online | Reviewed by Jodi Hoover, Digital Resources Manager, Enoch Pratt Free Library, Baltimore, MD
Highly Recommended "[D]iscuss issues of gender discrimination as well as feelings of not belonging due to adoption, queerness or racial discrimination."
School Library Journal | Reviewed by Maggie Knapp
"The human connections are as much a part of the film as the energetic and explosive drumming. Those interviewed speak thoughtfully and humbly—yet not without ambition—on the challenges of following a nontraditional path and the value of mutual support and fostering belonging."
Journal of International Women's Studies | Reviewed by Minae Savas
"This documentary celebrates HERbeat’s liberation from such a dichotomy between
masculinity and femininity in the taiko performing arts."
Film Threat | Bobby LePire
10/10 “One of the year’s most engaging and captivating documentaries."
Portland Tribune | Darleen Ortega
"The film [...] will delight and move audiences whether or not they know anything about taiko."
Asian Movie Pulse | Olivia Popp
"[A]n insightful look into an influential art form that also defies a false and frequently misconstrued binary between tradition and modernity."
Los Angeles Blade | Rob Watson
"A story of women rising against a patriarchal backdrop, finding the power of sisterhood, and creating history through the drama of musical expression."
AWARDS
Best MN Film – Frozen River Film Festival
Honorable Mention – Seattle Queer Film Festival
Best Music Documentary - Melbourne Documentary Film Festival
Jury Prize – Satisfied Eye International Film Festival
Best Documentary & Audience Award for Best Documentary – DisOrient Asian American Film Festival of Oregon
Best Documentary – DC Asian Pacific American Film Festival
Audience Award for Best Documentary – Deep in the Hearth Film Festival
Audience Award for Best Film – Frozen River Film Festival
Best MN Film – Minnesota Film Festival
Nominee for Best Documentary | Film Threat
Best Music Documentary | Film Threat Award This!
Nominee for Best Directress | Film Threat
FILM FESTIVALS
Salem Film Fest
Outfest Fusion QTBIPOC Film Festival
Sonoma International Film Festival
Cleveland International Film Festival
Minnesota Film Festival (Centerpiece Film)
Mill Valley Film Festival
DOC NYC
Hot Springs Documentary Film Festival
Film Fest Tucson
Heartland Film Festival
Newport Beach Film Festival
Hawai’i International Film Festival
Key West Film Festival
Cucalorus Film Festival
DOXA Documentary Film Festival & Powell Street Festival
Waimea Film Festival - HIFF HANA HOU
Queer Screen’s 30th Mardi Gras Film Festival
Seattle Asian American Film Festival (Opening Night Film)
DisOrient Asian American Film Festival of Oregon (Opening Night Film)
Durango Independent Film Festival
Oxford Film Festival
SCREENINGS
Pickford Film Center
Sound Unseen (Opening Night Film)
Producer & Featured Artist of FINDING HER BEAT
Associate Producer & Featured Artist of FINDING HER BEAT
They currently reside in Minneapolis. As a public health and psychiatric nurse, they are a published writer on topics of health equity and environmental racism. They are guest speaker and teacher at local Nursing Schools on topics of trauma-informed care, and health equity. In addition to performing taiko, they now combine professional nursing experience with traditional artistic practice towards community healing and empowerment, especially for BIPOC, LGBQTIA+, and homeless youth.
Director, Producer & Editor of FINDING HER BEAT
A former television news reporter at an ABC affiliate, Mikkelson has taught Documentary Film as Adjunct Faculty at Ottawa University in Kansas, as well as at Film North. Most recently she served as Broadcast Content Manager at WDSE|WRPT in Duluth, MN. Over her time at WDSE the station and it’s productions quadrupled their Regional Emmy Award Nominations and received national acclaim by NAJA (Native American Journalist Association).
Based in Lake City, Minnesota, Mikkelson is a proud member of the Film Fatales and the DPA (Documentary Producers Alliance), as Co-Representative of the Midwest Region and Member of the Ethics Committee.
Director, Director of Photography & Editor of FINDING HER BEAT