Lydia Rui is an award-winning Australian Chinese writer and director based in the UK. She is a recent MA Directing Fiction graduate of the National Film & Television School, UK, with support from Screen Australia Enterprise and the Ian Potter Cultural Trust Fund. Prior to NFTS, she was twice Australian Directors Guild Award nominated and won the 2020 Flickerfest Emerging Female Filmmaker Award. She cut her teeth working on NYU MFA films, where she graduated with a BFA, then went on to be the videographer for Beyoncé’s Mrs. Carter World Tour through North America and Europe. She then worked full time as a director’s assistant for Exit Films, then Australia’s leading production company, before leaving to pursue her own work.

 

Her short documentary, This is Yarra (2018), premiered at Academy® qualifying festivals DOC NYC 2018 and the 28th Flickerfest International Short Film Festival. It's currently available on streaming platform TOPIC. This Perfect Day (2018), Lydia’s narrative short, had its World Premiere at Tribeca Film Festival 2019. After a successful festival run, it is now available as a Vimeo Staff Pick here and on Omeleto. Her next short, Prom Night (2020), screened at both Flickerfest International Short Film Festival and the 69th Melbourne International Film Festival. Her graduate film, Virile (2022), is in submissions and in development as a feature, alongside The Island (currently in development with Pulse Films). She is one of twenty projects selected for the 2023 Torino Script Lab.