Beda Batka

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 Prague, Czechoslovakia (now Czech Republic)
Died	June 6, 1994(1994-06-06) (aged 71) Floral Park, New York, United States
Occupation	Cinematographer
Years active	1963–1980

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

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