Julie Ryan Biography

Julie Ryan is a prolific Australian film producer who’s achievements include Ten Canoes (2006), which was awarded the Un Certain Regard Special Jury Prize at the Cannes International Film Festival, and box office smash hit Reg Dog (2011) which she produced with Nelson Woss. Both films won Best Film at the Australian Film Institute/Australian Academy of Cinema & Television Arts Awards (AACTA) and were successful at the box office with Red Dog taking $21.5m and earning eighth place in the highest grossing Australian films of all time. Many of Julie’s films have been selected to screen at major international film festivals including Cannes, Berlin, Toronto, Sundance, Venice, Telluride and Busan.

Julie began producing with auteur filmmaker Rolf de Heer in 1999 and over a ten year period made five features under the Vertigo Productions banner. Her first feature, The Old Man Who Read Love Stories (2001), was filmed in French Guiana and starred Richard Dreyfuss and Hugo Weaving. Australian outback feature The Tracker (2002) was selected for Venice and won Best Film at the IF Awards that year. Julie then produced Alexandra’s Project (2003), Dr Plonk (2007), and the multi-award winning Ten Canoes (2006), which was filmed in remote Arnhem Land in northern Australia.

In 2007, Julie established Cyan Films and produced My Tehran For Sale (2009), which was shot in Iran and gained international attention when Iranian actor Marzieh Vafamehr was arrested for her involvement in the film. In 2010, Julie served as executive producer for writer director Anthony Maras on Cyprus-filmed war drama The Palace (2011), which won a number of awards including an AACTA for Best Short Film, and the feature doc Shut Up Little Man: An Audio Misadventure (2011), which was selected for Sundance.

In 2011 Julie was invited to co-produce indigenous drama Satellite Boy (selected for both Toronto 2012 and Berlin 2013), and in 2012 she joined Oscar-winning producers Emile Sherman and Iain Canning to co-produce Tracks, the true story of Robyn Davidson’s camel trek across Australia, starring Mia Wasikowska and Adam Driver.

In 2015 Julie completed the second Cairnes brothers feature Scare Campaign which won four awards including Best Film at MonsterFest Melbourne 2015.

In 2016 she was p.g.a. producer on Hotel Mumbai alongside Basil Iwanyk, Gary Hamilton, Mike Gabrawy, Andrew Ogilvie and Joe Thomas. The feature film is about the devastating terrorist attacks on Mumbai in 2008, and reunites Julie with award winning writer/director Anthony Maras.

In 2019 Julie’s company Cyan Films partnered with Tenille Kennedy of The Koop to produce the family feature H is for Happiness, directed by award winning filmmaker John Sheedy. The film was one of four gala screenings at the Melbourne International Film Festival in 2019, went on to win the prestigious Cinefest Oz Film Prize, as well as a Jury Prize at the 2020 Berlinale.

From 2020 to early 2023, Julie was the Production Executive at the South Australian Film Corporation and oversaw internationally acclaimed productions such as The Stranger, The New Boy, Royal Hotel, Run Rabbit Run and Talk To Me.

Her most recent credit is as Executive Producer on her third Cairnes brothers film, Late Night With The Devil, which was critically received at its international premiere at SXSW 2023, and is currently 100% on Rotten Tomatoes.

In March 2023, her production company formed a producing partnership with Ari Harrison’s production company Sanctuary Pictures. Currently they are building a slate of theatrical films with experienced and emerging filmmakers from Australia and New Zealand, and are aiming to be in production from 2024.

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Julie’s production company, Cyan Films, is based in Adelaide, South Australia. She has shot films in many remote regions around Australia including Arnhem Land, the Kimberley, the Pilbara, Alice Springs, the Flinders Ranges and Albany WA. Internationally she has worked in Iran, Cyprus, French Guiana and India. Julie served as a board member for the South Australian Film Corporation from 2008 to 2011, and was admitted to the Australian Cinema Pioneers in 2015.