An award-winning Monmouth county filmmaker takes off in new directions

by Laura D.C. Kolnoski

Set for release later this year, the film Miles, starring Molly Shannon and Paul Reiser, tells the story of a male high school senior who joins a girls’ volleyball team to win a college scholarship. Its cinematographer, Hunter Robert Baker, hails from Monmouth County.

Baker, who studied directing, cinematography, and anthropology at NYU, has been behind a camera since his childhood, growing up on colorful stories told by his large Irish-Russian family. During high school, he apprenticed for neighbor Thom Stukas, an award-winning documentary cinematographer who wrote Baker’s NYU recommendation letter. In college, he studied in Cuba and Africa while continuing to work and travel with Stukas filming HBO’s 24/7 series, highlighting boxers including Floyd May weather and Oscar De La Hoya.

“Thom lent me his Super 16mm camera for my school projects,” Baker said. “He was instrumental in teaching me the craft of cinematography and the responsibility that came with it.” He learned about designing shots and lighting, visual continuity, and choosing the correct lens, focal length, and camera position from a technical as well as theoretical perspective. In 2011, Baker received an Emmy Award for his camera work on 24/7’s Penguins vs. Capitols Road to the NHL Winter Classic.

Baker soon expanded into shooting commercials, documentaries, and narrative films, working with CNN Films, ESPN, and MTV, along with Lexus, Revlon, Panasonic, Vogue, Adobe, and Nike. In 2013 he shot and produced the short film Without Fire, which won Best Dramatic Film at the Arizona International Film Festival. The next year, he collaborated with Director Boyd Holbrook (of the Netflix series Narcos) on Peacock Killer, starring Shea Whig ham. Baker then began developing Highlands, a drama/thriller he’s writing and directing based on familiar themes concerning Super storm Sandy. The story tells the tale of Joline “Joe” Trent, whose coastal community is destroyed by a hurricane.

The day after Sandy, with his family home filled with six feet of water, Baker convinced a Manhattan cab driver to take him to New Jersey. He found his father in the basement, chest-deep in water. He then walked through Monmouth Beach and Sea Bright, and witnessed Seaside Heights, Sea Girt, and Union Beach, discovering the “universality of this tragic event and sense of loss.” The experience motivated him to create Highlands and launch his own development and production company.

After meeting Native American coal miners on a Navajo Reservation in Arizona, he teamed with director Jordan Fein on Three Rising Towers, a feature length documentary currently in production.
Last September, they became fellows of the Points North Fellowship at the Camden International Film Festival.

“Throughout the past two years I decided my real goals as a storyteller,” Baker said. “Three Rising Towers marks my directorial debut. I’m glad I’ve involved myself in a complicated topic that blends economics, climate change, and protecting and preserving Native American culture.” He now splits his time between New York City, Los Angeles, and Arizona/New Mexico.

“I’ve never forgotten where I come from, though, and will always be Jersey to the core,” he said. “For me, everything starts with story. Being a visual learner made it easier to experiment and take that step forward with my lens, then another step back to evaluate and try to improve on it. That methodology followed me up until this very moment in my career. I’m excited for what is on the horizon.”

Hunter Baker
hunterrobertbaker.com