Filmmakers

Pat Mire was born June 23, 1953 and grew up in a farming community near Eunice, Louisiana. He is an English and French-speaking Cajun, busy at correcting stereotypes and misconceptions of his beloved Cajun culture by presenting an insider\'s perspective.

Mire\'s cultural documentaries have been broadcast nationally on PBS, the Discovery Channel, and TNN\'s American Skyline and have won the highest awards in the most prestigious national and international competitions including the Margaret Mead Film Festival and the American Anthropological Film Festival\'s coveted "Award of Excellence." Mire and his films have been the subject of numerous articles and reviews in major magazines, newspapers, and journals. Carl Lindahl, film reviewer for the Journal of American Folklore called Pat Mire "an important artistic force at work in French Louisiana whose camera work and editing are excellent." Lindahl\'s review compared Mire to legendary documentary filmmaker Les Blank. "The second-generation films reviewed here find Blank responding to a call for a more focused and academically-guided cultural exploration and mark the debut of Pat Mire, a filmmaker dedicated to intensive, holistic presentation of specific aspects of his cultural heritage."

Recognized for his creative filmmaking skills, Pat Mire was the only Louisiana filmmaker to receive a 1991 regional fellowship from the Southeast Media Fellowship Program that included fourteen states. In December of 1993, the Louisiana Endowment for the Humanities honored Mire with a Special Humanities Award for his film work which has made a major contribution to the humanities in Louisiana. He was also the recipient of a 1994 fellowship from the Louisiana Division of the Arts, which had not given a fellowship to a filmmaker in six years. In 1995, Mire was called a "Louisiana Success Story" at the Governors Arts Awards. On May 17, 1997, the Acadiana Arts Council honored Mire with the "Distinguished Artist Award," which is given to an artist who\'s work has achieved national recognition. Pat was in the Leadership Louisiana Class of 1998. In February, 2000, Mire was presented an "Artist of the Year Award" in Washington, D.C., by US Senator, Mary Landrieu.