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]

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.[2] After he emigrated to USA, he taught cinematography at the Tisch School of the Arts.[3] Among his students and proteges were Fred Elmes,[4] Barry Sonnenfeld, Bill Pope,[5] and Ken Kelsch.[6] The best known movie he worked on in America was Little Darlings.[7]

Filmography

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

References

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  1. Luzi, Evan (2013-12-16). "88 Cinematographers Share the Best Professional Advice They've Ever Received". The Black and Blue. Retrieved 2025-01-27.
  2. Hoberman, J. (2013-07-03). "Prague's Savage Spring". The New York Review of Books. Retrieved 16 July 2017.
  3. Bingham, Adam (2012-09-19). Directory of World Cinema: East Europe. Intellect Books Limited. ISBN 978-1-84150-518-3.
  4. "ASC Close-Up: Fred Elmes Interview". The ASC -- American Cinematographer. May 2010. Archived from the original on 2010-06-08.
  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. Ebert, Roger Ebert (1980). "Little Darlings movie review & film summary (1980)". www.rogerebert.com. Retrieved 2025-01-27.
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