BUILT-IN, Chapter 3: Flying Monks Temple
As part of the BUILT-IN (https://navel.la/events/built-in) series, NAVEL presents the screening of Flying Monks Temple by Žanete Skarule, a creative documentary centered around the conception of The Shaolin Flying Monks Theatre located in the sacred Songshan mountain in the Henan province of China. The film unfolds around the endearing and complicated relationship of its creators, a young Latvian architect, Austris Mailitis, and a Chinese businessman, Quanqi Zhu, who must navigate cultural differences, conventions and personal ambitions to realize the most ambitious project of their lives—the world’s first structure for human levitation.
Organized by Amanda Vincelli
Directed by Žanete Skarule
Cinematography by Valdis Celmiņš, Jānis Jurkovskis, and Norbert Shieh
Produced by Uldis Cekulis at VFS Films
Original score by Voldemārs Johansons
Žanete Skarule brings almost ten years of experience working for TV and has an established interested in film-making at the production houses Backyard Productions in Los Angeles and Ark Media in New York, where she conducted research for PBS documentaries. During her Master’s at the California Institute of the Arts Film and Video program, Žanete had a chance to work in fiction, documentary, experimental film and theatre under the supervision of mentors like Betzy Bromberg, Thom Andersen, James Bening, Debrah LaVine and James Franco. Working with Jonas Mekas, the legendary New York based ‘godfather’ of avant-garde cinema encouraged Žanete to start her own practice.
*no one turned away for lack of funds