Courtesy Chicago artist Damon Bishop created this promotional postcard to inspire other pancake aficionados to submit films for the International Pancake Film Festival, which will be held at Unit B.

After celebrating his birthday with a pancake breakfast a few years ago, Chicago artist Damon Bishop got to thinking how fun it would be to gather some friends to eat pancakes while watching movies. Movies about pancakes.

So he asked filmmakers and anyone else who was interested to submit short films about the popular breakfast food.

He got about a dozen submissions, and the first International Pancake Film Festival was held in his apartment in September.

He enjoyed it so much, he decided to team up with his friend Kimberly Aubuchon to show the films at her San Antonio art space, Unit B (Gallery), and invited Texas artists to submit their own pancake films.

“There’s nothing like opening your mailbox and finding a DVD from someone you don’t know, maybe half way across the country, made of themselves interacting with pancakes,” Bishop explained in an e-mail.

“When something as innocuous as a pancake is the mandated subject matter, hilarity just ensues. I have yet to receive a depressing pancake movie. There have been a few serious ones, but none have caused tears. The pancake, in addition to being delicious, is just funny.”

Aubuchon decided to take it one step further and hold an exhibit dedicated entirely to food with works by four San Antonio artists.

“And the fork ran away with the spoon” includes food-related sculptures by Franco Mondini-Ruiz (whose sculpture of Venus de Milo on a stack of pancakes stands in front of the Museo Alameda), small paintings of meat by Mario Perez, found-object sculptures by Alice Fermin and taco art by Cruz Ortiz.

“With the pancake festival being kind of the impetus behind the show, it just seemed appropriate that the rest of the work should have that light-heartedness about it too,” Aubuchon said.

More than 20 short films will be screened at the opening reception on Friday, May 16. Some are from the first festival and some are from Texas artists being screened for the first time. San Antonio is represented by Joan Fabian, among other local artists.

The films range in genres: narrative, experimental, animated and live action. They will be screened on a flat screen monitor inside the gallery through June 27.

Bishop will be in town for the opening reception to cook up free pancakes in the gallery’s backyard (Pioneer Foods is sponsoring the event.)

“Pancakes and beer,” Aubuchon said. “We like to keep it fun and real, and you can’t get any more real than pancakes and beer.”

Jessica Belasco | 210SA contributor