Catherine Pancake

Catherine Pancake is an American filmmaker and musician, based in Baltimore, Maryland since ca. 1993. A native of West Virginia, she is a relative of the writers Breece D'J Pancake and actor Sam Pancake. Following her move to Baltimore, she co-founded the Red Room Collective and High Zero Foundation, became a self-trained improvising percussionist and began making films, which ranged from short, experimental meditations to feature-length narratives and documentaries. She also is a founding member of the Charm City Kitty Club (GLBT Performance Series,) and the Transmodern Festival (Live.Art.Action.)

Since about 2001, her primary project has been a documentary about the mountaintop removal project of the coal companies in southern West Virginia and its resulting environmental and humanitarian consequences titled Black Diamonds. Black Diamonds was released by Bull Frog Films for distribution in December, 2006.

Film-and-Videography with Notable Screenings

Released 2006
Black Diamonds: Mountaintop Removal & The Fight for Coalfield Justice: DV 72 minutes
Documentary Fortnight - Museum of Modern Art (MoMA) Feb 2008
Paul Robeson Independent Media Award - 2006
Key to the City - South Charleston, WV - 2006
Spadaro Documentary Award - 2007
Silver Chris Award - Best in Science & Technology Division - Columbus International Film Festival - 2007

External links

* Black Diamonds film page [http://www.blackdiamondsmovie.com/]
* Baltimore City Paper article on Black Diamonds [http://www.citypaper.com/news/story.asp?id=11640]
* Chela Gallery Retrospective of Pancake's Films [http://www.chelagallery.org/shows/previous/cp_show.html]