The Kiggins on Main St. is set to host the premiere of the upcoming short film titled Hold My Beer, written and directed by writer and musician Brian Tashima. Set to release in January 2025, Hold My Beer tells the story of an autistic young adult who, after a tough conversation with his parents, discovers a newfound passion for craft beer with aspirations of one day opening his own brewpub.
The film, which was written by Tashima back in 2018, was finally able to go into production in late 2022 after some minor hiccups thanks to the pandemic.
“I was looking for a local director to direct the film back in 2018 and just wanted to produce it,” says Tashima. “My band played at the Beer Festival at Esther Short Park in 2022 and it sort of reminded me just how big the brewpub community is in this city which inspired me to pick the project back up.”
After struggling to once again find a director, Tashima decided to put his music video experience to use and direct the short film himself, utilizing his bandmates to help with the principal photography. That being said, while the film certainly pays homage to the craft beer community, there seems to be an incredible pathos for the autism, or “neurodivergent” community as well, a cause that’s extremely important to the film’s director.
“My son is autistic, and I’ve been an advocate for him his whole life,” says Tashima. “The lead in my novel series is also autistic as with this short film.”
The film, which is produced by the non-profit Autism Empowerment and Second Player Score, demonstrates just how special this project is for the neurodivergent community, highlighting the talents, progress, and efforts to both raise awareness as well as demonstrate support.
In fact, the film’s lead, Andrew York, is also neurodivergent with a well accomplished acting career thus far in his early life, appearing in projects such as Portlandia and The Librarians.
However, at the heart of the film is the nod to Pacific Northwest craft brewing and the art and passion behind it.
“Once I moved to Vancouver from Hawaii my friends really introduced me to craft beers,” says Tashima. “When I met the drummer in my band I learned that he was a home brewer. He’s won some awards and is great at it, which is sort of where the original idea of the script came from.”
In fact, to highlight some of Vancouver’s craft beer scene Tashima and his team actually filmed at several local breweries and businesses to capture the spirit of the artistry, including Loowit Brewing Company and Bader Beer & Wine Supply. The film also utilized locations such as Seize the Bagel and the Pearson air Museum. After all, according to Tashima, the three core things he wanted to promote were craft beer, the neurodivergent community, and Vancouver, WA.
“It was really important for me for the cast, crew, businesses, and all other stakeholders to be Vancouver based as much as possible,” says Tashima. “We even got our mayor, Anne McEnerny-Ogle to have a small role in it. I really want to put Vancouver on the map and have been working with Visit Vancouver Washington as well as the Cultural, Arts, and Heritage Commission to use this film as a vehicle to boost the city’s profile and attract tourism.”
Hold My Beer has an official runtime of 39 minutes, set to host its premier at the historic Kiggins Theatre on January 23rd, a crown jewel setting in the heart of downtown Vancouver. Equally, to capture the spirit of the city in his film, Tashima actually went around downtown and knocked on building doors to try and get roof access to get an aerial shot of the city skyline, eventually getting permission from the Arts building to showcase Vancouver.
Tashima is currently looking into sponsors for their January premiere, right now crediting Employers Overload as well as Stephen’s Place the lone sponsors for this exciting event.
“We’re doing a bunch of specials at the event, like $5 pints and limited-edition beer from Loowit that promotes the film,” says Tashima. “Spry Social Media will be present to help promote the event as well. There are other local film projects that we’re also going to shine some light on as well.”
Luckily, for those unable to attend the premiere, Tashima plans to release the film for free on the film’s official YouTube channel a month later, giving all patrons a chance to watch Tashima and his team’s work.
“We’ve actually talked with the Japanese language department at Clark College to translate the film into Japanese,” says Tashima. “We’re looking to promote across all different markets. We also plan to shop it around to other production studios to see if there’s any interest to move forward with the concept and/or story.”
Tashima ultimately talks about how he hopes the efforts behind this film will create more economic and employment opportunities for people in both the arts and neurodivergent community.
“I wanted to do this for the whole city,” says Tashima.
You can learn more about Tashima and the short film at Holdmybeer.mov.
