Today we’d like to introduce you to Casey Beck and Asali Echols, co-directors of “Talking Tiki.”
Hi Casey, thanks for sharing your story with us. To start, maybe you can tell our readers some of your backstory.
Asali Echols: This all started because my partner, Alex, is really into tiki drinks and making tiki cocktails. We bought a fourplex with some of our friends in 2020, and there was an extra converted garage space, and we thought, “Why not make a tiki bar?” So, Alex and I started to gradually make our tiki bar, but as we are doing it, we started to have some questions. We were thinking, of course, tiki bars are super fun, but isn’t there this legacy of appropriation? And should we really be making a tiki bar in 2020?
We started to do some research on this, and we realized, Oh my gosh! There’s this new wave of tiki that is happening right now that is really innovative and taking the traditional components of tiki culture and moving them in a new, hip, less appropriative, more interesting direction. And so, we got really excited about this. I’m a filmmaker, and all of this was fresh on my mind during a trip to New Orleans. I was talking to my friend Casey, who lives there and who’s also a filmmaker. And I said, you know, Casey, this Tiki world is super interesting. It has a great history. There’s some cool stuff happening now. I kind of feel like it’s a documentary. And Casey immediately said, “Wow, let’s do it!” That was the beginning of this, and we’ve been filming for about a year now.
Casey Beck: Maybe I’ll jump in about Tiki Oasis. So, we had been filming for maybe 8 months when the idea of attending Tiki Oasis seriously took hold. Anyone who’s even remotely connected to the Tiki world knows about Tiki Oasis. It’s this 4-day extravaganza of all things tiki and tropical in San Diego. We had been interviewing and talking to people around the country, and without fail, they would ask: oh, are you going to be at Tiki Oasis?! But we were dragging our feet about making a decision. We wanted to go eventually, but we thought maybe we’d wait for next year. Finally, we just said, “You know what – let’s do it. Let’s go this year. Let’s dive in.” So, we made T-shirts for our film, we got ourselves press passes to the event, and booked our hotel…and I think it exceeded all of our wildest expectations. We met a lot of artists, restaurateurs, bartenders, home-bar connoisseurs, fun lovers, and people who just defy category but who have a commitment and passion for tiki. It was a real baptism into the tiki world.
Asali Echols: Baptism is the right word… Tiki Oasis is like the Mecca of all things tropical. It’s where everybody from all over the world – not just the US – comes to San Diego to talk about and celebrate the tiki world. I was just so impressed with people’s commitment and creativity. They’re all so open and curious and warm. You could sit and have a conversation with anyone. And it’s very unique to be in a space like that.
I’m sure it wasn’t obstacle-free, but would you say the journey has been fairly smooth so far?
Asali Echols: Well, it’s actually been a surprisingly smooth road. We’ve just jumped into the Tiki River, and it’s just floated us right along. Unlike most documentaries, where you’re spending a lot of time producing and trying to get access to people, this was the opposite. This is a community about community, so people are super generous with their connections. We talk to one person, and they say, “Oh, you should interview this person. I’ll hook you up.” Then suddenly, we’re interviewing that person. And on and on. I mean, we almost had too many. Initially, we were flooded with possibilities and people to go visit and interview.
Casey Beck: Yeah, I think, honestly, the only struggle we’ve had is not having the time or funding to cover everything we’ve wanted to cover. And still that we want to capture! This has been an entirely self-funded project up until this point. And so, we’ve had to be very careful with selecting locations for production and how we spend the funds that we have. We definitely wish we had more time and more funding.
Asali: We do have an upcoming crowdfunding campaign to help us fundraise the rest of production costs and postproduction for this film. We really want to go to all of these iconic tropical bars and other places that we’ve heard about again and again. And we’d even love to go back to San Diego because there’s an artist there who we would like to film more with.
Great, so let’s talk business. Can you tell our readers more about what you do and what you think sets you apart from others?
We are a small documentary crew who came together specifically to tell this story. Individually, our work runs the gamut from social justice docs to human interest stories to environmental activism stories.
Casey Beck (co-director): Casey Beck is an award-winning documentary filmmaker, producer, and photographer. Her debut short film Mongolia: Land Without Fences (2007) premiered online on FRONTLINE/World. After completing a Fulbright scholarship in Argentina, she became the First Unit Director of Ballplayer: Pelotero, a New York Times Critics’ Pick, and worked on a groundbreaking series for Global Post in the Dominican Republic. Her feature documentary directorial debut premiered in The Organic Life at the 36th Mill Valley Film Festival (2013), won Best Documentary Feature at the Santa Cruz Film Festival and has been broadcast online on Hulu, FoodMattersTV, Amazon, and iTunes. Her short films on environmental injustice and community grassroots activism – Downstream (2018), The Great Divide (2020), and Smells Like (2022) – were published in tandem with investigative journalism works by the Investigative Reporting Workshop and Public Health Watch. She’s been excited to work on Talking Tiki because she herself needs an escape from the world every now and again! These days, you can catch her at Latitude 29 with a Navy Grog in hand.
Asali Echols (co-director): Asali is a Bay Area filmmaker and film editor whose works have screened in festivals worldwide. Her directing credits include the award-winning short documentaries The Violin Upstairs (2019) and Lion on the Mat (2021). Her feature documentary editing credits include 2e: Twice Exceptional (2015), Navajo Math Circles (2016), and High as a Kite (2020). She received her MFA in Cinema at San Francisco State University, where she met Casey and Chris. When not behind a camera or in the editing room, you can find her haunting Smuggler’s Cove or procuring nautical knickknacks for her home tiki bar.
What would you say has been one of the most important lessons you’ve learned?
Casey Beck: I think the most important lesson I’ve personally learned is that two tiki drinks is probably enough in any given venue at any given time. You will want to consider the third! You will think, “Wow, that was really delicious. I want another one.” But for us, as working filmmakers, with early morning call times, you do have to be careful. I think we learned our lesson. Or at least I did.
Asali: I think that’s correct.
Casey: Anything else?
Asali: I really do think that the Tiki world is far friendlier than the average world. Even just going into a tiki bar, not on a pretense of filming, I’ve made friends, and that doesn’t happen at regular bars anymore. There’s just something about tiki that breeds conviviality. The lesson I’ve learned is just ask because the answer will likely be yes if you’re in the tiki world.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://talkingtikifilm.com
- Instagram: talkingtikifilm
Image Credits
Chris Wooten
