Arūnas Matelis (born 9 April 1961, in Kaunas) is a Lithuanian documentary film director. From 1979 till 1983 Arūnas Matelis studied Mathematics at Vilnius University 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 with the right to vote.
Matelis is one of the recipients of the Lithuanian National Prize of 2005.
"Prieš parskrendant į žemę", the first feature-length documentary by Matelis about children hospitalized with leukemia, is the most highly acclaimed Lithuanian film and is considered one of the best European documentary films of 2005, awarded in numerous festivals:[2]
The film is nominated for the European Film Academy best European documentary award of 2005.