Watch RIVER CITY DRUMBEAT on PBS!
RIVER CITY DRUMBEAT is available from PBS and its local stations in 2021. (Check your local PBS station for listings.)
The film is also available on PBS digital platforms, including the PBS app, PBS.org, and PBS Distribution streaming services.
The critically-acclaimed, audience favorite RIVER CITY DRUMBEAT is an immersive story of music, love, and legacies set in the American South. For three decades, the dynamic Ed “Nardie” White offered a path to empowerment to Black youth in Louisville, Kentucky through his Pan-African community drum corps. When he decides to step down, Albert Shumake, an alum whose life was saved by the drumline, returns home to carry “the spirit of the drum” forward for the next generation. During the year-long changing of the guard, young drummers Imani, Jailen, and Emily navigate the cadences of adolescence even as systemic forces threaten to undermine their dreams. Directors Marlon Johnson and Anne Flatté deliver a vital and insightful tale that shows how art, love and mentors can transform a child’s life. With compelling characters, evocative visuals, and kinetic drumline performances, RIVER CITY DRUMBEAT is a testament to the impact of this creative community on the lives of three generations. Witness the immense power of love and music in what Film Threat called “an edifying story of rhythm, passion, and rites of passage.”
RIVER CITY DRUMBEAT made its world premiere at DOC NYC and went on to a successful festival and virtual theatrical run in 2020. The feature documentary was named a 2020 New York Times Critic’s Pick and one of Common Sense Media’s Top 20 Best Family Films of the Year.
