Beda Batka (Czech: Bedřich Baťka; August 21, 1922 – June 6, 1994) was a Czech and American cinematographer and a teacher in the Tisch School of the Arts.[1][2]

Beda Batka
Born
Bedřich Baťka

(1922-08-21)August 21, 1922
DiedJune 6, 1994(1994-06-06) (aged 71)
OccupationCinematographer
Years active1963–1980

Batka started his career as a camera operator on the movie On the Right Track (1948). In Czechoslovakia he frequently worked with director Jiří Weiss. Batka told Weiss a story that happened at his wife's workplace. Weiss decided to use this story as a basis for his film Ninety Degrees in the Shade. In 1967 Batka was a director of photography for František Vláčil's Marketa Lazarová, which was later voted the best Czech movie of all time.[3] After he emigrated to USA, he taught cinematography at the Tisch School of the Arts.[4] Among his students were Barry Sonnenfeld, Bill Pope,[5] and the late Ken Kelsch.[6] The best known movie he worked on in America was Little Darlings.[7]

Filmography

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Year Title Notes
1963 Fear
1963 The Golden Fern
1964 Láska nebeská Short film
1965 Ninety Degrees in the Shade
1966 Sign of the Cancer
1966 Marketa Lazarová
1967 Four in a Circle
1972 In Pursuit of Treasure
1979 The Orphan
1980 Little Darlings

References

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  1. ^ 88 Cinematographers Share the Best Professional Advice They've Ever Received
  2. ^ The ASC -- American Cinematographer: ASC Close-Up: Fred Elmes
  3. ^ Hoberman, J. (2013-07-03). "Prague's Savage Spring". The New York Review of Books. Retrieved 16 July 2017.
  4. ^ Directory of World Cinema: East Europe
  5. ^ Sonnenfeld, Barry (2020). Barry Sonnenfeld, Call Your Mother Memoirs of a Neurotic Filmmaker. Hachette Books. ISBN 9780316415637.
  6. ^ Williams, David E. (2023-12-14). "In Memoriam: Ken Kelsch, ASC (1947-2023) - The American Society of Cinematographers (en-US)". The American Society of Cinematographers. Retrieved 2023-12-24.
  7. ^ Little Darlings By Roger Ebert, rogerebert.com, March 25, 1980
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