Arūnas Matelis (born 9 April 1961, in

Kaunas Kaunas (; ) is the second-largest city in Lithuania after Vilnius, the fourth largest List of cities in the Baltic states by population, city in the Baltic States and an important centre of Lithuanian economic, academic, and cultural life. Kaun ...

) is a

Lithuania Lithuania, officially the Republic of Lithuania, is a country in the Baltic region of Europe. It is one of three Baltic states and lies on the eastern shore of the Baltic Sea, bordered by Latvia to the north, Belarus to the east and south, P ...

documentary A documentary film (often described simply as a documentary) is a nonfiction Film, motion picture intended to "document reality, primarily for instruction, education or maintaining a Recorded history, historical record". The American author and ...

film director A film director or filmmaker is a person who controls a film's artistic and dramatic aspects and visualizes the screenplay (or script) while guiding the film crew and actors in the fulfillment of that Goal, vision. The director has a key role ...

. From 1979 till 1983 Arūnas Matelis studied Mathematics at

Vilnius University Vilnius University ( Lithuanian: ''Vilniaus universitetas'') is a public research university, which is the first and largest university in Lithuania, as well as one of the oldest and most prominent higher education institutions in Central and Ea ...

and later in 1989 graduated from the Lithuanian Music Academy. In 1992, he established one of the first independent film production companies in Lithuania, "Nominum". In 2006 Matelis became a full member of

European Film Academy The European Film Academy is a group of European film director, filmmakers who come together in Berlin on the occasion of the first presentation of the European Film Awards in November 1988. Every year, the European Film Academy honors films an ...

with the right to vote.

Filmography

*''Pelesos milžinai'' (1989) *''Baltijos kelias'' (1989) *''Dešimt minučių prieš Ikaro skrydį'' (1991) *''Autoportretas'' (1993) *''Iš dar nebaigtų Jeruzalės pasakų'' (1996) *''Pirmasis atsisveikinimas su Rojum'' (1998) *''Priverstinės emigracijos dienoraštis'' (1999) *''Skrydis per Lietuvą arba 510 sekundžių tylos (Flight over Lithuania or 510 seconds of silence) ''(2000) *''Sekmadienis. Evangelija pagal liftininką Albertą'' (2003) *''Prieš parskrendant į žemę (

Before Flying Back to Earth ''Before Flying Back to Earth'' (originally released in Lithuania as ''Prieš parskrendant į žemę'' in 2005) is the first feature-length documentary film by the Lithuanian film director Arūnas Matelis. In a lyrical, yet unsentimental fashi ...

)'' (2005) *'' Wonderful Losers: A Different World'' (2017)

Awards

Matelis is one of the recipients of the Lithuanian National Prize of 2005. ''"Prieš parskrendant į žemę"'', the first

feature-length A feature film or feature-length film (often abbreviated to feature), also called a theatrical film, is a film (motion picture, "movie" or simply “picture”) with a running time long enough to be considered the principal or sole presentation ...

documentary by Matelis about children hospitalized with

leukemia Leukemia ( also spelled leukaemia; pronounced ) is a group of blood cancers that usually begin in the bone marrow and produce high numbers of abnormal blood cells. These blood cells are not fully developed and are called ''blasts'' or '' ...

, is the most highly acclaimed Lithuanian film and is considered one of the best

Europe Europe is a continent located entirely in the Northern Hemisphere and mostly in the Eastern Hemisphere. It is bordered by the Arctic Ocean to the north, the Atlantic Ocean to the west, the Mediterranean Sea to the south, and Asia to the east ...

an documentary films of 2005, awarded in numerous festivals:Nominum
* Best documentary in Directors Guild of America Awards 2006 * Best Lithuanian Film 2005 by Lithuanian Filmmakers Union * Silver Wolf in International Documentary Film Festival

Amsterdam Amsterdam ( , ; ; ) is the capital of the Netherlands, capital and Municipalities of the Netherlands, largest city of the Kingdom of the Netherlands. It has a population of 933,680 in June 2024 within the city proper, 1,457,018 in the City Re ...

(IDFA), 2005 * Golden Dove in International Leipzig Festival for Documentary and Animated Film, 2005 * Main Prize in Festival Documenta

Madrid Madrid ( ; ) is the capital and List of largest cities in Spain, most populous municipality of Spain. It has almost 3.5 million inhabitants and a Madrid metropolitan area, metropolitan area population of approximately 7 million. It i ...

, 2005 * "Spirit Award for Documentary" in

Brooklyn Brooklyn is a Boroughs of New York City, borough of New York City located at the westernmost end of Long Island in the New York (state), State of New York. Formerly an independent city, the borough is coextensive with Kings County, one of twelv ...

International Film Festival, 2006 * Grand Prix in

Pärnu Pärnu () is the fourth-largest city in Estonia. Situated in southwest Estonia, Pärnu is located south of the Estonian capital, Tallinn, and west of Estonia's second-largest city, Tartu. The city sits off the coast of Pärnu Bay, an inlet of ...

International Film Festival, 2006 * Special Jury Mention in

Silverdocs The AFI Docs (formerly Silverdocs) documentary film festival was an American international film festival. Created by the American Film Institute and the Discovery Channel, it was held annually in Silver Spring, Maryland and Washington, D.C., fro ...

Festival, 2006 * ''Veliki pečat'' international competition award in

ZagrebDox ZagrebDox is an international documentary film festival launched in 2005 which takes place in Croatia's capital Zagreb every year. The festival showcases creative documentary features from around the world, and also includes workshops for prospect ...

Film Festival, 2006 The film is nominated for the

best European documentary award of 2005.

References

External links

Personal Website
* Lithuanian film directors Lithuanian documentary film directors Living people 1961 births Vilnius University alumni Lithuanian Academy of Music and Theatre alumni Directors Guild of America Award winners Film people from Kaunas {{lithuania-film-director-stub

Filmography

Awards

Further reading

References

External links