A T Beaune

A T Beaune comes to cinema through a professional career in music and stage performance and a high school gig as a movie usher. The minimalist short comedy 'Shoe Story' (2021), Beaune's debut film, earned multiple international awards within weeks of release. The film stars Taiwan talents Dora Lo (Best Actress award, TIFF-B), James C H Lo and Wen-Chieh Chi (Ensemble Acting award, Rotterdam Independent Film Festival). A T Beaune plays a British tea merchant in Chunyang Lin's 'Gold Leaf,' a 2021 dramatic series that follows a Hsinchu tea-growing family through Taiwan's tumultuous twentieth century. Based on real-life events, 'Gold Leaf' was filmed on location at numerous historical sites. The series stars Cindy Yu-Han Lien, Xing Li, James Sheng-hao Wen, Tzu-Chien Kuo, Jag Huang, Wilson Hsu and Simon Hsueh (plus eye-popping vintage cars and clothes) in a story by Juliana Hsu and Guo-Hua Huang. Beaune is author and director of 'Taiwan Photowalk,' a photo story based on Modest Mussorgsky's 'Pictures from an Exhibition.' Mandy Weng stars in the series which was shot over two years in locations across the country. 'Taiwan Photowalk' has screened twice in Taiwan's National Concert Hall as well as in the National Palace Museum and Taichung and Tainan venues. Apo Ching-Hsin Hsu and the NTNU Symphony Orchestra performed Ravel's orchestration in the world premiere; Shao-Hsun Chang performed the original suite in the premiere of the version for piano. Beaune wrote, directed, and acted in '1001 Nights: The Radio Play,' an adaptation of his short story based on the medieval classic. '1001 Nights' was produced by ICRT FM100 for national broadcast by Tim Berge and featured sound design by Ping Lu. The cast featured Chia-Hsuan Lin, Paul Batt, and Ruth Landowne Giordano along with the author. Beaune's 'Flight 109: a short travelogue for stage,' based on music by Taiwanese composer Sandra Tavali and poetry by William Shakespeare, premiered at the 2019 Taipei Shorts festival produced by John Brownlie. The author directed in partnership with dancer and singer Lyra Angelique. The cast featured Dora Lo, Chase Lo, Jacklyn Kuah and Michelle Hsu. Beaune's adaptation of 'The Soldier's Tale' (L'histoire du soldat), by C F Ramuz with music by Igor Stravinsky, was staged by Chia-Hsuan Lin conducting the NTNU Chamber Players in Taipei. Beaune played The Devil alongside Yi-An Chen in the title role. Beaune's first professional stage performances came as music director in collaborations on operas, musicals, and plays in Baltimore, Washington, and Memphis theatres. His screen acting debut came with an uncredited background appearance as a Portuguese merchant in Martin Scorsese's 'Silence,' filmed in Taiwan. A T Beaune studied music and creative writing at the Johns Hopkins University, where his first novel garnered a Baltimore Writers Alliance award for fiction. His e-books are stocked by major booksellers and his humorous verse has been featured in Baltimore Symphony radio broadcasts. His rock band lyrics have been set to music by John Budrevo. He holds a DMA in music performance. A T Beaune now makes his home in Taiwan. About his days as a movie usher, he shares this insider observation: 'Saturday night crowds are like no other.'