Frederick Douglas Stephan "Fred" Baker (26 January 1965 – 24 August 2020) was an

Austria Austria, formally the Republic of Austria, is a landlocked country in Central Europe, lying in the Eastern Alps. It is a federation of nine Federal states of Austria, states, of which the capital Vienna is the List of largest cities in Aust ...

British British may refer to: Peoples, culture, and language * British people, nationals or natives of the United Kingdom, British Overseas Territories and Crown Dependencies. * British national identity, the characteristics of British people and culture ...

filmmaker Filmmaking or film production is the process by which a Film, motion picture is produced. Filmmaking involves a number of complex and discrete stages, beginning with an initial story, idea, or commission. Production then continues through screen ...

media scholar Media studies is a discipline (academia), discipline and field of study that deals with the content, history, and effects of various media (communication), media; in particular, the mass media. Media studies may draw on traditions from both the ...

, and

archaeologist Archaeology or archeology is the study of human activity through the recovery and analysis of material culture. The archaeological record consists of Artifact (archaeology), artifacts, architecture, biofact (archaeology), biofacts or ecofacts, ...

. He was born in

Salzburg Salzburg is the List of cities and towns in Austria, fourth-largest city in Austria. In 2020 its population was 156,852. The city lies on the Salzach, Salzach River, near the border with Germany and at the foot of the Austrian Alps, Alps moun ...

and was brought up in

London London is the Capital city, capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of both England and the United Kingdom, with a population of in . London metropolitan area, Its wider metropolitan area is the largest in Wester ...

. After graduating from

Queen Elizabeth's Grammar School for Boys Queen Elizabeth's School, Barnet is a boys' grammar school in Barnet, northern Greater London, which was founded in 1573 by Robert Dudley, 1st Earl of Leicester, and others, in the name of Queen Elizabeth I. It is consistently ranked as one o ...

, he studied

Anthropology Anthropology is the scientific study of humanity, concerned with human behavior, human biology, cultures, society, societies, and linguistics, in both the present and past, including archaic humans. Social anthropology studies patterns of behav ...

and

Archaeology Archaeology or archeology is the study of human activity through the recovery and analysis of material culture. The archaeological record consists of Artifact (archaeology), artifacts, architecture, biofact (archaeology), biofacts or ecofacts, ...

at St John’s College,

Cambridge Cambridge ( ) is a List of cities in the United Kingdom, city and non-metropolitan district in the county of Cambridgeshire, England. It is the county town of Cambridgeshire and is located on the River Cam, north of London. As of the 2021 Unit ...

Tübingen Tübingen (; ) is a traditional college town, university city in central Baden-Württemberg, Germany. It is situated south of the state capital, Stuttgart, and developed on both sides of the Neckar and Ammer (Neckar), Ammer rivers. about one in ...

and

Sheffield Sheffield is a city in South Yorkshire, England, situated south of Leeds and east of Manchester. The city is the administrative centre of the City of Sheffield. It is historically part of the West Riding of Yorkshire and some of its so ...

Universities, finishing with a Ph.D. from

Cambridge University The University of Cambridge is a Public university, public collegiate university, collegiate research university in Cambridge, England. Founded in 1209, the University of Cambridge is the List of oldest universities in continuous operation, wo ...

. He was a Senior Research Associate at the McDonald Institute for Archaeological Research, Cambridge University, specialising in Digital Humanities, Heritage, and Prehistoric Rock Art. He was a co-founder of the EU-funded 3D Pitoti digital heritage project and co-director of the Cambridge University Prehistoric Picture Project. He divided his time between

Berlin Berlin ( ; ) is the Capital of Germany, capital and largest city of Germany, by both area and List of cities in Germany by population, population. With 3.7 million inhabitants, it has the List of cities in the European Union by population withi ...

and

Vienna Vienna ( ; ; ) is the capital city, capital, List of largest cities in Austria, most populous city, and one of Federal states of Austria, nine federal states of Austria. It is Austria's primate city, with just over two million inhabitants. ...

, producing and directing films, as well as writing articles and books. In the book ''The Art of Projectionism'' (2007) he defined a projectionist school of filmmaking and media art. In this publication he also presented "ambient film", a surround experience that can be shown in specially developed "ambient cinemas". His first narrative ambient short, ''Ruhetag'', was premiered in Vienna in 2007. ''Ring Road: A Viennese Odyssey'', the first ambient feature film, was premiered at the Biennale in

Seville Seville ( ; , ) is the capital and largest city of the Spain, Spanish autonomous communities of Spain, autonomous community of Andalusia and the province of Seville. It is situated on the lower reaches of the Guadalquivir, River Guadalquivir, ...

in 2008. His interview partners included

Yoko Ono Yoko Ono (, usually spelled in katakana as ; born February 18, 1933) is a Japanese multimedia artist, singer, songwriter, and peace activist. Her work also encompasses performance art and filmmaking. Ono grew up in Tokyo and moved to New York ...

George H. W. Bush George Herbert Walker BushBefore the outcome of the 2000 United States presidential election, he was usually referred to simply as "George Bush" but became more commonly known as "George H. W. Bush", "Bush Senior," "Bush 41," and even "Bush th ...

,The Independent (London), 06.09.1998
/ref>

Mikhail Gorbachev Mikhail Sergeyevich Gorbachev (2 March 1931 – 30 August 2022) was a Soviet and Russian politician who served as the last leader of the Soviet Union from 1985 to dissolution of the Soviet Union, the country's dissolution in 1991. He served a ...

Václav Havel Václav Havel (; 5 October 193618 December 2011) was a Czech statesman, author, poet, playwright, and dissident. Havel served as the last List of presidents of Czechoslovakia, president of Czechoslovakia from 1989 until 1992, prior to the dissol ...

Shimon Peres Shimon Peres ( ; ; born Szymon Perski, ; 2 August 1923 – 28 September 2016) was an Israeli politician and statesman who served as the prime minister of Israel from 1984 to 1986 and from 1995 to 1996 and as the president of Israel from 2007 t ...

Helmut Kohl Helmut Josef Michael Kohl (; 3 April 1930 – 16 June 2017) was a German politician who served as chancellor of Germany and governed the ''Federal Republic'' from 1982 to 1998. He was leader of the Christian Democratic Union (CDU) from 1973 to ...

John Major Sir John Major (born 29 March 1943) is a British retired politician who served as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom and Leader of the Conservative Party (UK), Leader of the Conservative Party from 1990 to 1997. Following his defeat to Ton ...

Michel Rocard Michel Rocard (; 23 August 1930 – 2 July 2016) was a French politician and a member of the Socialist Party (France), Socialist Party (PS). He served as Prime Minister of France, Prime Minister under François Mitterrand from 1988 to 199 ...

Tadeusz Mazowiecki Tadeusz Mazowiecki (; 18 April 1927 – 28 October 2013) was a Polish author, journalist, philanthropist and politician, formerly one of the leaders of the Solidarity movement, and the first non-communist Polish prime minister since 1946, hav ...

Amalia Rodrigues Amalia may refer to: People *Amalia (given name), feminine given name (includes a list of people so named) *Princess Amalia (disambiguation), several princesses with this name Films and television series * ''Amalia'' (1914 film), the first ...

, Cardinal Franz König,

Lord Norman Foster Norman Robert Foster, Baron Foster of Thames Bank (born 1 June 1935) is an English architect. Closely associated with the development of high-tech architecture, Lord Foster is recognised as a key figure in British modernist architecture. His ...

, Sir Ernst Gombrich,

Simon Wiesenthal Simon Wiesenthal (31 December 190820 September 2005) was an Austrian Holocaust survivor, Nazi hunter, and writer. He studied architecture, and was living in Lwów at the outbreak of World War II. He survived the Janowska concentration camp (la ...

, Prince Louis Ferdinand of

Prussia Prussia (; ; Old Prussian: ''Prūsija'') was a Germans, German state centred on the North European Plain that originated from the 1525 secularization of the Prussia (region), Prussian part of the State of the Teutonic Order. For centuries, ...

Joseph Stalin Joseph Vissarionovich Stalin (born Dzhugashvili; 5 March 1953) was a Soviet politician and revolutionary who led the Soviet Union from 1924 until Death and state funeral of Joseph Stalin, his death in 1953. He held power as General Secret ...

’s grandson and

Vivienne Westwood Dame Vivienne Isabel Westwood (; 8 April 1941 – 29 December 2022) was an English fashion designer and businesswoman, largely responsible for bringing modern punk and new wave fashions into the mainstream. In 2022, ''Sky Arts'' ranked her the ...

. Baker taught film at the Donau University, Krems and St. Pölten University of Applied Sciences in Austria. He lectured on film, media and journalism at the

Bauhaus University, Weimar The Bauhaus-Universität Weimar is a university located in Weimar, Germany, and specializes in the artistic and technical fields. Established in 1860 as the Great Ducal Saxon Art School, it gained collegiate status on 3 June 1910. In 1919 the s ...

, the

Universität der Künste The Universität der Künste Berlin (UdK; also known in English as the Berlin University of the Arts), situated in Berlin, Germany, is the second largest art school in Europe. It is a public art and design school, and one of the four research uni ...

in Berlin and

Middlesex University Middlesex University London (legally Middlesex University and abbreviated to MDX) is a public research university based in Hendon, northwest London, England. The university also has campuses in Dubai and Mauritius. The name of the university is ...

in London. He also taught film as part of the Screen Media and Culture Group at

. His specialties included

cinema of Austria Cinema of Austria refers to the film industry based in Austria. Austria has had an active film, cinema industry since the early 20th century when it was the Austro-Hungarian Empire, and that has continued to the present day. Producer Sascha Kolow ...

new media art New media art includes artworks designed and produced by means of new media, electronic media technologies. It comprises virtual art, computer graphics, computer animation, digital art, interactive art, sound art, Internet art, video games, robo ...

and

television documentary Television documentaries are televised media productions that screen documentaries. Television documentaries exist either as a television documentary series or as a television documentary film. * Television documentary series, sometimes called d ...

. For the

Museum of Applied Arts, Vienna The MAK – Museum of Applied Arts (German: ''Museum für angewandte Kunst'') is an arts and crafts museum located at Stubenring 5 in Vienna's 1st district Innere Stadt. Besides its traditional orientation towards arts and crafts and design, the ...

he created 'Klimt's Magic Garden: A Virtual Reality Experience by Frederick Baker' (2018). Baker died on 25 August 2020, at the age of 55.

Filmography

*''Goodbye to Berlin's Big Brother'' ('' BBC Late Show'') (1994) *''Correspondent - 12 reports from Central Europe'' (''BBC Current Affairs'') (1995-2000) *''Killing Time - the 48 hour week'' (''BBC Assignment'') (1995) *''Right to Reply - Bloody Bosnia'' (''

Channel 4 Channel 4 is a British free-to-air public broadcast television channel owned and operated by Channel Four Television Corporation. It is state-owned enterprise, publicly owned but, unlike the BBC, it receives no public funding and is funded en ...

'') (1995) *''Stories My Country Told Me: The Meaning of Nationhood'' - '' Eric Hobsbawn and Slovakian Nationalism'' (for '' BBC Arena'') (1996)''Stories My Country Told Me: The Meaning of Nationhood - Eric Hobsbawn and Slovakian Nationalism.''
Retrieved 29 April 2016. *''Austrian-Jewish Cultural Festival'' (''

ORF ORF or Orf may refer to: * Norfolk International Airport, IATA airport code ORF * Observer Research Foundation, an Indian research institute * One Race Films, a film production company founded by Vin Diesel * Open reading frame, a portion of the g ...

Culture'') (1996) *''Shopping for King Arthur'' (''ORF Culture'') (1996) *''Women Priests in England'' (''ORF'') (1996) *''The First

Silent Night "Silent Night" () is a popular Christmas carol, composed in 1818 by Franz Xaver Gruber to lyrics by Joseph Mohr in Oberndorf bei Salzburg, Austria. It was declared an intangible cultural heritage by UNESCO The United Nations Educati ...

'' (''

BBC Music BBC Music is the arm of the BBC responsible for the music played across its services. The current director of music is Lorna Clarke. Officially it is a part of the BBC's Radio operational division; however, its remit also includes music used i ...

'') (1997) *''Die erste Stille Nacht'' (''Media Europa/ORF'') (1997) *''Re-cycling Churches in England'' (''ORF Religion'') (1997) *''

Fado Fado (; "destiny, fate") is a music genre which can be traced to the 1820s in Lisbon, Portugal, but probably has much earlier origins. Fado historian and scholar Rui Vieira Nery states that "the only reliable information on the history of fado ...

: Religion und Music in Portugal'' (''ORF Religion'') (1997) *''The German Giant -

'' (''BBC Correspondent Special'') (1998) *''Viennese Jews on the Thames'' (''Austrian Cultural Institute, London'') (1998) *''Big Brother - The

Stasi The Ministry for State Security (, ; abbreviated MfS), commonly known as the (, an abbreviation of ), was the Intelligence agency, state security service and secret police of East Germany from 1950 to 1990. It was one of the most repressive pol ...

- East Germany's Secret Police'' (''BBC Correspondent Special'') (1999) *''Magic Lantern:

& Revolution'' (''BBC Correspondent Special'') (1999) *''Stille Nacht - Ein Lied geht um die Welt'' (''Media Europa/ORF'') (1999) *''

Stalin Joseph Vissarionovich Stalin (born Dzhugashvili; 5 March 1953) was a Soviet politician and revolutionary who led the Soviet Union from 1924 until Death and state funeral of Joseph Stalin, his death in 1953. He held power as General Secret ...

- der Rote Gott'' (''ORF/ Rainer Moritz Arts'') (1999) *''Rebuilding the Reichstag'' ('' BBC Omnibus'') (1999) *''The Haider Show'' (''BBC Correspondent'') (2000) *''Stalin: Red God'' (''BBC Arena'') (2000) *''The Kabbala Oratorio'' (''ORF - Bayern Alpha'') (2002) *''Deutschland Deutschland: Sigmund Nissels musikalische Reise'' (''ORF/3SAT'') (2002) *''Imagine IMAGINE'' (''BBC Arena/ORF'') (2003) *''Creme Bavaroise: obazt is Gerhard Polt & die Biermöslblosn'' (''Media Europa'') (2003) *''Shadowing the Third Man'' (''with Silverapples Media for BBC/ORF'') (2004) *''Anziehendes Österreich - Modische Inszenierungen von Kopf bis Fuss'' (''With Sandra Fasolt'') (2005) *''Testing Mozart'' (''BBC/ ORF/ Arte/ Euroarts'') (2006) *''Romy Schneider- Eine Frau in drei Noten'' (''ORF/ARTE'') (2008) *''Kultur des Widerstands'' (''ORF/ Filmbäckerei'') (2010) *''Widerstand in Haiderland'' (''Filmbäckerei/Polyfilm'') (2010) *''Und Äktschn'' (2014) *''Und Äktschn: Making of'' (TV movie documentary) (2014) *''Prometheus Pitoti'' (short film) (2016) *''Cinema Austria: Die ersten 112 Jahre'' (TV movie documentary) (2020)

Awards

* Golden Halo, Best Virtual Reality Documentary, Amsterdam European VR days VR Days Amsterdam, September 2017 Award for 360 VR film "Pitoti Prometheus" with Marcel Karnapke, Produced at Cambridge University and the Bauhaus University Weimar for the EU project 3D Pitoti. * Best 3D Animation World 3D Guild, Liege, Belgium December 2016 Award for "Pitoti Prometheus" 360 VR film with Marcel Karnapke. Produced with McDonald Institute for Archaeological Research, Cambridge University & Bauhaus University Weimar, as part of the EU Project "3D Pitoti". * Europa Nostra European Union Digital Research Prize 2016 Europa Nostra & European Union *2008: ''Homosexuell und dennoch Christ (ORF, Kreuz & Quer)'': Leopold Ungar Preis. Fredrick Baker wurde gemeinsam mit Sandra Fasolt für den Beitrag "Homosexuell und dennoch Christ" (ORF, Kreuz & Quer) mit dem Anerkennungspreis in der Kategorie TV ausgezeichnet. Der Bericht kratze massiv an Vorurteilen und stelle festgefahrene Haltungen der Kirche in Frage, so die Begründung der Jury -
Caritas Wien
*2007: ''Shadowing the Third Man'': Finalist, Hollywood Film Festival and Belgrade International Film Festival; Finalist, URTI International Film Festival, Monte Carlo. *2006: ''Shadowing the Third Man'' won 1st Overall Prize for best documentary at the Festival di Palazzo Venezia_Arte 2006 in Rome. *2005: ''Shadowing the Third Man'' was selected for the Cannes Film Festival.
/ref> ''Imagine IMAGINE'' was awarded the World Gold Medal for feature documentaries in the category Film and Video at the New York Festivals 2005. ''Deutschland, Deutschland'' was awarded the Silver Remi at the Worldfest in the Houston International film festival. *2004: ''Stalin: Red God'' won a Bronze Remi at the Worldfest Houston - category History and Archaeology films. ''Imagine IMAGINE'' was awarded a Golden Prague award (Special Mention) in the documentary category at the 41st Golden Prague International Film Festival in the documentary category. Jury statement:"Through an iconic song, this film paints a colourful portrait of a global generation." *2003: ''Deutschland, Deutschland'' was selected as a finalist in the Hollywood Film Festival and showcased at the Arclight Theater on Sunset Boulevard. It also made the finals of the PRIX EUROPA in Berlin, as one of the top ten in Europe in the multi-cultural documentary category - "Iris". The film was shortlisted for the Golden Prague Music documentary award in Prague. It was selected for the Academia festival in Olomouc and the Hradec Kralovy in the Czech Republic, and for the Golden Chest award in Bulgaria. *2002: ''Rebuilding the Reichstag'' won the Architectural Education award at 26th Festival International du Film d'Art et Pedagogique (FIFAP) Paris. ''Stalin: Red God'' was awarded the Golden Gate Award in the category History film at the 45th San Francisco International Film festival 2002. It was also a Finalist at the Banff film festival, the New York TV festival 2002. *2001: ''Stalin: Red God'' was jointly awarded the prize for best documentary at the 36th International Academia film festival in Olomouc, Czech Republic. It made the finals of the UNESCO festival in Paris, Maremma Doc, in Italy, and DocumentArt festival in Germany, Mediawave in Hungary, Palic in Yugoslavia & Booz,Allen Hamilton Award, Diagonale, Graz, Austria. *2001: The Correspondent series 2000 (including ''The Haider Show'', ''Dr. Gross'' and ''Lojze Wieser'') was awarded the prize for best TV Programme by the Royal Television society in London. *2001: ''The Haider Show'' was nominated for the Diagonale Documentary Prize, Graz. *2000: ''Rebuilding the Reichstag'': Grand Prix at Techfilm 2000 - the 38th International Arts and Technology Film Festival, Czech Republic. *1997: ''Stories My Country Told Me: The Meaning of Nationhood'' - '' Eric Hobsbawn and Slovakian Nationalism'': “Gold Hugo” – the top award in the category Social/ Political Documentary, INTERCOM film festival, Chicago. Also selected for and shown at the Jewish Film Festival, Vienna 1998.

Bibliography

* ''Die beschämte Republik. Österreich 10 jahre nach Schwarz-Blau'' (Ed. with Petra Herczeg), Czernin Verlag, Vienna, 2010. * ''The Art of Projectionism'', Czernin Verlag, Vienna, 2007 * ''Salzburg Erlesen'' (edited by Frederick Baker), Wieser Verlag, Klagenfurt, 2007 * ''The Reichstag Graffiti / Die Reichstag Graffiti'' (with Norman Foster and Deborah Lipstadt), Jovis Verlag, Berlin, 2003 * "The Red Army graffiti in the Reichstag, Berlin: politics of rock-art in a contemporary European urban landscape" in ''European Landscapes of Rock-Art'', edited by George Nash and Christopher Chippindale, Routledge, London, 2002 *''Der dritte Mann: Auf den Spuren eines Filmklassikers'' (with Brigitte Timmermann), Czernin Verlag, Vienna, 2002 *''Wiener Wandertage: eine Dokumentation'' (edited by Frederick Baker & Elisabeth Boyer), Wieser Verlag, Klagenfurt, 2002

References

External links

*
Home of Media EuropaThe Third Man''The Art of Projectionism''The Haider Show (BBC)Austria's New Resistance (BBC)Publisher Fights for Small Languages (BBC)
{{DEFAULTSORT:Baker, Frederick Film people from Salzburg British film directors Austrian film directors German-language film directors Alumni of St John's College, Cambridge 1965 births 2020 deaths British documentary film directors People educated at Queen Elizabeth's Grammar School for Boys