Ruth Cullen spent her childhood in the Australian bush on the banks of the Yarra River in Warrandyte, Victoria, Australia.
She was a sickly, serious child with big eyes and a quiet personality. One day, when Ruth was five, there was a huge bushfire and people fled with their most precious possessions. Ruth's mother grabbed her five children and fled the wall of flames. And while their home survived the fire, Ruth grew up among blackened gum trees realizing that the most vibrant re-growth always comes after an intense shake up.
In her early teen years she experienced severe culture shock when she was moved to respectable suburbia in Australia's capital city Canberra. Feeling increasingly displaced and restless, and ever hungry for new experiences, she still managed to complete an Arts (Political Science & Film) degree. However, Ruth realized pretty quickly that as much as she loved ideas and the world of the head, academia was not for her.
Initially, she initially channelled her passion for new directions and social justice into political activism, but once she discovered film making, a whole new world opened up and that was that.
She has worked in a variety of positions on documentaries, features, commercials and music videos and now has Credits on over 40 films.
The 80's were spent working furiously in Sydney and meeting up each year in Manhattan with the indomitable expatriate artist Vali Myers. In 1989 Ruth made the first of her 2 films about Vali - a 58 minute documentary called THE TIGHTROPE DANCER. Set in her wild valley in southern Italy and the New York art scene, THE TIGHTROPE DANCER introduced Vali to Australian audiences via a national theatrical release and ABC screenings. It also screened at film festivals around the world including: Amsterdam (IDFA), Montreal and Los Angeles.
"In making this documentary I wanted to celebrate a wild rambunctious survivor who had lived outside of conventional society and flourished."
Ruth left Australia in 1989 and spent the next 2 years traveling and writing short stories which were published in the USA and Australia. After settling in New York at the Chelsea Hotel, where she lived for 4 years, she edited a variety of projects including the feature documentary CRIMINALS, directed by Oscar winner Joseph Strick, ( ULYSEES & THE BALCONY) and many music videos including SEX DRIVE for Grace Jones. She also combined her directing and editing skills and worked as an Edit Doctor on films that had come to an impasse in the cutting room. She has done 2 editing jobs in the last 10 years - both of which won the last 2 AFI Awards for Best Documentary.
In 1993 she co-founded (with Henri Ehrlich) a production and licensing company in Manhattan called "Lookout Productions - Extreme Footage", which targeted the high-end advertising market. Lookout's shooting credits include commercials for: Naya Mineral Water, Gatorade, Good Morning America, The BF&M Insurance Group, The National Crime Prevention Council for (Saatchi & Saatch).
Ruth returned to Australia in 1999. After completing a sequel to THE TIGHTROPE DANCER called PAINTED LADY, Ruth began a 2 year shoot on her next film - BECOMING JULIA which followed macho Aussie bloke Paul through his gender transition into Julia. It premiered to a standiong ovation at the 2003 Sydney International Film Festival.
"Paul's initial appeal to me was that he seemed to epitomise the typical Australian bloke in so many ways yet he had no doubt that she was a woman. I was interested in exploring the contrast between the butch male exterior and her inner feminine world and ultimately relating this back to our own, often unconscious, perceptions of gender."
In 2005 she directed and shot the five part series "HEAT IN THE KITCHEN" which aired on SBS to rave reviews. "Heat" has been sold all over the world.
Since then she has directed 2 episodes of: THE 2 OF US series for SBS, and co-directed a six part series- PARENT RESCUE & HIGH STEAKS (3 x 1/2 hr) for Foxtel. She is currently the Series Director on the series ABOUT MEN for SBS (3 x 1 hr)
As well as making films Ruth has worked as an assessor for The NSW Film & Television Office and the Australian Film Commission. She has written articles for The Sydney Morning Herald, The Age, Filmink and POV magazines. She has also served on the advisory committee for the Sydney International Film Festival and is on the Board of the Australian Directors Guild (ADG) which was formerly ASDA.