Cathy C. Cook (born June 10, 1955) is an American filmmaker. A 2001 Guggenheim Fellow, she has made several award-winning films, including The Match That Started My Fire (1992), A Deed Without a Name (1993), and Beyond Voluntary Control (2000). She is an associate professor in visual arts at the University of Maryland, Baltimore County.[1]
Cathy Cook | |
|---|---|
| Born | June 10, 1955 Chicago, Illinois, U.S. |
| Alma mater | University of Wisconsin–Milwaukee (BFA and MFA) |
| Occupation | Filmmaker |
| Employer |
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| Awards | Guggenheim Fellowship (2001) |
Biography
editCook was born on June 10, 1955, in Chicago.[2] She attended the University of Wisconsin–Milwaukee, where she obtained her BFA in 1984 and MFA in 1988.[2] She worked simultaneously as an instructor at the University of Wisconsin–Whitewater (1984-1985) and UW Milwaukee (1985-1991).[2] Following her graduate studies, she later moved to the New York City area, where she at the media industry as an art director,[1] as well as assistant professor of film at Hunter College from 1993 to 1995.[2] She later moved to University of Maryland, Baltimore County, becoming associate professor there.[1]
Cook has produced well over a dozen short films,[3] some of which won awards.[2] One of them, The Match That Started My Fire, won a best work award at the 1992 Ann Arbor Film Festival; Christopher Potter of The Ann Arbor News criticized the choice, saying: "artistically, was this randy reminiscence worthy of best-in-show? Hardly."[4] Her film A Deed Without a Name (1993) won the 1993 Black Maria Festival Juror's Award, as well as festival awards at the 19th Poetry Film/Video Festival and 5th Annual Poetry Video Festival.[2] She returned to the AAFF for their 2001 edition, winning the Best Editing Award for her 2000 film Beyond Voluntary Control, inspired by her mother's battle with Parkinson's disease.[2][3] In 2009, she released Immortal Cupboard: In Search of Lorine Niedecker, an experimental documentary on the poet Lorine Niedecker; Post45 called it "a filmic labor of love that operates through a poetic logic of superimposition".[5]
Cook was a 1991 Wisconsin Arts Board Fellow and 1998 New York State Council on the Arts Fellow.[2] In 2001,[6] she was awarded a Guggenheim Fellowship in filmmaking.[2]
As of 2000, Cook lived in Brooklyn.[3]
Filmography
editReferences
edit- ^ a b c "Cathy Cook". University of Maryland, Baltimore County. Retrieved August 24, 2025.
- ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m Reports of the President and the Treasurer. John Simon Guggenheim Memorial Foundation. 2002. p. 57-58.
- ^ a b c d Kenner, Michele (March 24, 2000). "Filmmaker Cook explores involuntary movement in people". Milwaukee Journal Sentinel. p. 9E. ProQuest 261041337.
- ^ Potter, Christopher (March 24, 1992). "Film festival judges closer to the mark". The Ann Arbor News. p. 14.
- ^ Dimick, Sarah; Menke, Brandon (February 29, 2024). "Locating Lorine Niedecker: Found Among Friends". Post45. Retrieved August 24, 2025.
- ^ "Cathy C. Cook". Guggenheim Fellowships. Retrieved August 24, 2025.