Two people seated in front of a wall of greenery, working on a laptop.

Michael B Baker

Professor

Faculty of Humanities & Social Sciences

Biography
Research, Innovation and Entrepreneurship

Michael Baker is Professor of Film Studies in the Faculty of Humanities & Social Sciences. He specializes in documentary film and video, music and the moving image, and film history. He holds a PhD in Communication Studies from McGill University, a MA in Cinema Studies from Concordia University, and BFA in Film & Video from York University. He is author of numerous book chapters and journal articles on a range of subjects including documentary, popular music and film, and new media. Baker is co-editor, with Tom Waugh and Ezra Winton, of "Challenge for Change: Activist Documentary at the National Film Board of Canada" (McGill-Queen’s, 2010) and, with co-editor Jessica Mulvogue, the newly released collection “The Interactive Documentary in Canada” (McGill-Queen’s, 2024).

Book Chapters

Baker, M.B., Dulac, N. (2022). The Future Past: The Story of Electronovision, A Precedent for 'Live' Digital Cinema. In From Media to Post-Media: Continuities and Ruptures(pp. 69-80). Infolio Editions.
Baker, M.B., Milliken, C., Anderson, S. (2021). Popular Music, Short Form Docs, and the Internet as Forum for Innovation. In Reclaiming Popular Documentary(pp. 139-156). Indiana University Press.
Baker, M.B., MacKenzie, S., Iversen, G. (2021). The Sound of Rockumentary: A Consideration of the Documentary Soundtrack. In Mapping the Rockumentary: Images of Sound and Fury(pp. 50-63). University of Edinburgh Press.
Baker, M.B., Straw, W., Marchessault, J. (2019). Musicality and Canadian Cinema. In The Oxford Handbook of Canadian Cinema(pp. 391-407). Oxford University Press.
Baker, M.B., Lester, P., Baxter-Moore, N., Kitts, T. (2019). ‘It’s Such a Fine Line Between Stupid and Clever’: A Genealogy of the Music Mockumentary. In The Routledge Companion to Popular Music & Humor(pp. 257-265). Routledge Press.
Baker, M.B., Coelho, V. (2019). Shine A Light: The Rolling Stones on Film. In The Cambridge Companion to the Rolling Stones(pp. 165-183). Cambridge University Press.
Baker, M.B. (2014). Martin Scorsese and the Music Documentary. In Companion to Martin Scorsese(pp. 239-258). Wiley-Blackwell.
Baker, M.B., Ramsay, C. (2011). Who’s On the Home Front? Canadian Masculinity in the NFB’s WWII Series Canada Carries On. In Making It Like A Man: Canadian Masculinities in Practice(pp. 39-51). Wilfrid Laurier Press.
Baker, M.B., Waugh, T., Winton, E., Waugh, T., Winton, E. (2010). 40 Years Later… A Space for Challenge for Change/Société nouvelle. In Challenge for Change: Activist Documentary at the National Film Board of Canada (pp. 3-14). McGill- Queen’s University Press.
Baker, M.B., Waugh, T., Winton, E. (2010). The Curious Case of Wilf: Popular Music in Canadian Documentary. In Challenge for Change: Activist Documentary at the National Film Board of Canada(pp. 210- 217). McGill-Queen’s University Press.
Baker, M.B., White, J. (2006). Churchill's Island. In The Cinema of Canada(pp. 23-31). Wallflower Press.
Baker, M.B., Mulvogue, J. (2024). <p>Introduction: The Interactive Documentary in Canada</p>. In The Interactive Documentary in Canada (pp. 3-22). McGill-Queen's University Press.
Baker, M.B. (2024). <p>The National Film Board of Canada’s Digital Studio: An Oral History</p>. In he Interactive Documentary in Canada(pp. 25-49). McGill-Queen's University Press.

Books

Baker, M.B., Waugh, T., Winton, E. (2010). Challenge for Change: Activist Documentary at the National Film Board of Canada. Montreal, Canada: McGill-Queen's University Press.

Journal Articles

Baker, M.B. (2014). Notes on the Rockumentary Renaissance.Cinephile, 10(1), 5-10.
Baker, M.B. (2008). Dresden Story and the Emergence of the Talking Head in the NFB Documentary.Canadian Journal of Film Studies, 17(2), 2-17.
Baker, M.B., Sterne, J., Moscote Friere, A., Morris, J. (2008). The Politics of Podcasting.Fibreculture.