contact@zaneteskarule.com
instagram
Žanete Skarule is a Riga-born filmmaker based in Amsterdam. She holds an MFA in Film/Video from California Institute of the Arts where she was introduced to both analogue and digital film, as well as theatre direction under the supervision of Betzy Bromberg, Thom Andersen, Deborah LaVine, and James Benning among others. The greatest impact on her artistic practice, however, was left by Jonas Mekas, the godfather of avant-garde cinema, in whose New York-based studio Žanete started working in 2012. In 2017 she premiered Flying Monks Temple, her debut feature documentary, which was filmed in China over the course of seven years. It tells the story of an award-winning utopian architectural installation built at the top of sacred Songshan mountain. Žanete works in various genres such as fiction, documentary and experimental film. During her first degree in Journalism she developed a writing background which became an intrinsic part of her filmmaking giving it a diaristic and poetic dimension. Besides filmmaking, Žanete is interested in curating art and film. In 2009 she started a collective space called Pērle together with fellow artists. This space became a community center and a venue for performance, art, music, film, and literature in Riga. Recently, as part of the Cēsis Art festival, she curated exhibitions and screenings by amongst others Jonas Mekas, James Benning, Makino Takashi, Edvins Strautmanis, Sven Lukin, Maris Bishof.
SCREENINGS:
Anthology Film Archives (New York City, U.S.)
ArchFilmLund - Lund Architecture Film Festival (Lund, Sweden)
Architecture Design Art Film Festival (Palm Springs, U.S.)
ARQUITETURAS Film Festival (Lisbon, Portugal)
ArtSpace NAVEL, as part of BUILT-IN series (Los Angeles, U.S.)
Bend Design Conference (Bend, U.S.)
Bijou Theater, California Institute of the Arts (Los Angeles, U.S.)
Budapest Architecture Film Days (Budapest, Hungary)
BY DESIGN Architecture and Design Festival (Seattle, U.S.)
CinEast and Luxembourg Museum of Modern Art (Luxembourg City, LU)
Cinema Urbana - Architecture Film Festival Brasilia (Brasilia, Brazil)
Contemporary Art Initiatives (Hague, Netherlands)
Echo Park Film Center (Los Angeles, U.S.)
Exposition Building with Light and Water (Parnu, Estonia)
Los Feliz Theater (Los Angeles, U.S.)
Minneapolis Museum of Arts (Minneapolis, U.S.)
MONA - The Museum of New Arts, Latvia and Poland 100th Anniversary
Oktobarh Architecture, Design and Art Festival (Novi Sad, Serbia)
Parnu International Film Festival (Parnu, Estonia)
Riga International Film Festival (Riga, Latvia)
Stockholm Independent Film Festival (Stockholm, Sweden)
NOMINATIONS & AWARDS:
ArchFilmLund Prize for Best Documentary
Best feature documentary at Stockholm Independent Film Festival
Estonian People’s Award (Parnu International Film Festival)
Latgalian Culture Preservation Award
Latvian National Film Award Lielais Kristaps for Best Debut