He studied business management in Cologne, St. Gallen and New York, and film production at HFF Konrad Wolf in Potsdam-Babelsberg. In 1999 he and Dörte Franke founded the production company bauderfilm.
His documentary “grow or go” inspired a theater play (by Falk Richter), which premiered under the title of "Unter Eis" at the Schaubühne Berlin in 2004. In 2009, Bauder's own stage version of the film premiered at the National Theater in Brussels in 2010. In 2011 his debut movie “The System” (“Das System”) was released to high acclaim. His documentary “Master of the Universe” about the international banking system and stock markets premiered at Semaine de la Critique in Locarno.

In Los Angeles Dörte Franke and Marc Bauder will do research for their new feature on undocumented workers and the systems in place for them. Statistically every 10th person in Los Angeles is not a legal resident. Parallels on how these issues with illegal immigration are being dealt with in the U.S. and Germany will manifest themselves in the film.