Kelley Baker

Who is Kelley Baker?

Kelley J. Baker is an independent filmmaker based in Portland, Oregon, United States and the writer and director of three indie feature films: Birddog, The Gas Cafe, and Kicking Bird. He specializes in creating extreme low-budget narrative films, usually bending a few laws in his favor to perfect his piece that typically spotlights his distaste for corporate greed. His characters tend to be average with some character flaw that draws the viewer in.

Baker started making short films in the late 1980s. Some of them 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.

Baker has spent the last six years touring the US teaching his unique and scrupulous brand of filmmaking at workshops and showing his films to audiences at art house theaters, colleges, universities and media art centers. His methods might be considered guerrilla film making. For example, on the set of the Gas Cafe, Baker received permission to shoot in a local bar after closing, eliminating the need for a costly studio or constructed set. He set up all his lights on the rigging in the ceiling of the bar. Therefore, as soon as the place closed for the day, all Baker needed to do was turn on his own set of lights and shooting could commence.