He graduated from Willem de Kooning Academy in 2009, having received notable prizes for his studentshorts.
His documentary I’m Never Afraid! (2010) won a Golden Gate Award at San Francisco International Film Festival,[1] Documentary Short Grand Jury Prize at Atlanta Film Festival,[2] and a Kinderkast Jury award non-fiction at Cinekid Festival.[3] His documentary Wild Boar (2013) premiered at Hot Docs, AFI Docs, and Visions du Réel, where it was awarded a Special Mention for best short film.[4][5][6]
In 2016 Imposible Magazine reported Baptist was shooting a documentary titled Instant Dreams in Berlin and Los Angeles.[7] The same year, the feature film Young Wrestlers, he co-wrote and was directed by Mete Gümürhan, received a Special Mention from the jury at the Berlin International Film Festival. [8]
Instant Dreams premiered at the International Documentary Film Festival Amsterdam in 2017, where it competed in the First Appearance Competition.[9] The European premiere was at Visions du Reel. In the United States the film premiered at Slamdance Film Festival. [10][11] The film was internationally released; theatrically and on streaming platforms.[12][13] Instant Dreams was nominated for a Golden Calf, Rose d'Or, Doc Alliance-award and holds a positive score on Rotten Tomatoes, rating it ‘fresh’ based on critic reviews.[14]
In 2018 The Saugatuck Center for the Arts, present the Midwest premiere of the Instant Dreams documentary at 7 p.m. Friday, October 19, and was a feature an on-site Polaroid portrait studio in the lobby.[15]
From 2007 to 2013, he was co-owner of production company Kaliber Film. Since 2014, he has been co-founder and co-owner of Tangerine Tree, a Rotterdam-based production company in the Netherlands.[16][17]
