Kelley Baker is an independent filmmaker based in Portland, Oregon, United States and the writer and director of three indie feature films: Birddog (1999), The Gas Cafe (2001), and Kicking Bird (2005). He specializes in creating guerilla, extreme low-budget narrrative films.

His short films have aired on PBS, The Learning Channel, and Canadian and Australian television. His films and style have been recognized in publications ranging from Runners World to Filmmaker magazine.

Recognition

Baker is the recipient of a Western States Media Arts Fellowship as well as grants from the SOROS Fund, The Collins Foundation, the Oregon Arts Commission, and others. The Stirling Art Centre at Macrobert University in Stirling, Scotland ran retrospective of Kelley's work in 2006. The Pacific Film Archives and The Northwest Film Center have hosted a retrospective of Baker's short films.

Projects with other filmmakers

Baker was the sound designer on six feature films directed by Gus Van Sant, including My Own Private Idaho, Good Will Hunting, and Finding Forrester. He designed the sound on Todd Haynes feature film, Far from Heaven, with Dennis Quaid and Julianne Moore. He was the picture editor and sound designer on Will Vinton's The Adventures of Mark Twain, and Meet the Raisins for CBS. He has also worked with Roger Corman.

Projects in film education

As proprietor of Angry Filmmaker, Baker tours the United States and United Kingdom teaching about indie filmmaking at workshops and showing his films to audiences at art house theaters, colleges, universities and media art centers. Baker has appeared in over 200 cities and 350 venues.

Books

Baker is also the author of The Angry Filmmaker Survival Guide: Making the Extreme No Budget Film. The book is forthcoming in summer 2008.

Future projects

Baker is producing and directing Dangerous: Kay Boyle, a feature documentary chronicling the life of the woman called "the most dangerous woman in America" by S.I. Hiyakawa in 1967. This work in progress was featured at the Independent Feature Film Market in New York.

Baker is also directing The American Dream: A Work in Progress 2006-07. He has spent two years, interviewing people across the country about the American Dream. It is scheduled to be released in the late 2008.

Education

Baker attended the University of Southern California. He received a BA (1980) and an MFA (1982) in Film Production from the USC School of Cinematic Arts, and did post graduate work at the American Film Institute (1989).

References