Press Coverage

She grew up on a southern Minnesota farm in the '50's, but Mary Katzke's early memories are of celluloid, not sheep.  Recalling the special nook in local theaters where parents took fussy young children, Katzke says,
"I remember sitting in "The Crying Room,' and all the movies I saw through that soundproof glass," and laughs at the memory.  The preschool film fan longed to be an actress. But by the time she was eight, she had already found her calling behind the camera, making home movies and 8mm documentaries with her father,
an industrial engineer and weekend farmer.

Today, Katzke has her own nonprofit production company, the Anchorage, Alaska-based Affinityfilms Inc.  She has been a successful director and screenwriter ever since finishing film school at the University of Texas at Austin in 1979. Documentaries are still her metier, and over the years she has explored homelessness, domestic violence and other social issues. She made a film about the Exxon Valdez oil spill during the 10 years she lived in Alaska, where she went after her college graduation for what she expected would only be a vacation.  Sea of Oil aired on public television and was featured at

New York City's Museum of Modern Art.  Katzke, who received a master's in film from New York University in 1992, has had other films shown at Sundance in Park City, Utah, and a dozen other film festivals in Europe and the United States. She divides her time between New York City and Alaska.

In 1991, Katzke, then 37, found a lump in her breast and began a journey that brought a new focus for her work.  A doctor's delayed diagnosis of malignancy necessitated a mastectomy, and Katzke sued for malpractice.  With the six-figure settlement she eventually won in 1997, she decided to create a video and kit for newly diagnosed patients.  Called "Between Us," the candid 52-minute video is like an instant support group, featuring 12 cancer survivors who share experiences and coping strategies. Sad stories and hilarious anecdotes interlace as the women bare their souls (and their scars), sharing how breast cancer affected them socially, emotionally, sexually, physically. They talk frankly about keeping up with their jobs, getting support from loved ones, dressing during treatment, and telling their kids about their illness.

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