List of directorial debuts in the context of "Citizen Ruth"

Stormy Monday is a 1988 neo-noir thriller film written and directed by Mike Figgis in his feature film directorial debut, and starring Melanie Griffith, Sean Bean, Tommy Lee Jones, and Sting. The film follows an Irishman living in Newcastle upon Tyne, where he becomes embroiled in an American businessman's plot to acquire a prominent jazz club. Writer-director Figgis also composed the film's jazz score.

A co-production between the United Kingdom and the United States, Stormy Monday was filmed in Newcastle upon Tyne in the summer of 1987. The film's title refers to blues guitarist and singer T-Bone Walker's signature song "Call It Stormy Monday (But Tuesday Is Just As Bad)".

Christopher Joseph Columbus (born September 10, 1958) is an American filmmaker. Born in Spangler, Pennsylvania, Columbus studied film at New York University's Tisch School of the Arts where he developed an interest in filmmaking. After writing screenplays for several teen comedies in the mid-1980s, including Gremlins, The Goonies, and Young Sherlock Holmes, he made his directorial debut with a teen adventure, Adventures in Babysitting (1987). Columbus gained recognition soon after with the highly successful Christmas comedy Home Alone (1990) and its sequel, Home Alone 2: Lost in New York (1992).

The comedy Mrs. Doubtfire (1993), starring Robin Williams, was another box office success for Columbus. He went on to direct several other films throughout the 1990s, which were mostly met with lukewarm reception. However, he found commercial success again for directing the film adaptations of J. K. Rowling's novels, Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone (2001) and its sequel, Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets (2002). In addition to directing, Columbus was a producer of Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban (2004) and the drama The Help (2011), for which he was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Picture. He also directed the fantasy Percy Jackson & the Olympians: The Lightning Thief (2010) and the 3D action comedy Pixels (2015).

Cannery Row is a 1982 American comedy-drama film directed by David S. Ward in his directorial debut, starring Nick Nolte and Debra Winger. The movie is adapted from John Steinbeck's novels Cannery Row (1945) and Sweet Thursday (1954).

The Pleasure Garden is a 1925 silent drama film directed by Alfred Hitchcock in his feature film directorial debut. Based on the 1923 novel by Oliver Sandys, The Pleasure Garden is about two chorus girls, played by Virginia Valli and Carmelita Geraghty, at the Pleasure Garden Theatre in London and their troubled relationships. An international co-production of the United Kingdom and Germany, the film premiered in Berlin on 8 January 1926 (as Irrgarten der Leidenschaft).

Citizen Kane is a 1941 American drama film directed and produced by, and starring Orson Welles and co-written by Welles and Herman J. Mankiewicz. It was Welles's first feature film. The quasi-biographical film examines the life and legacy of Charles Foster Kane, played by Welles, a composite character based on American media barons William Randolph Hearst and Joseph Pulitzer, Chicago tycoons Samuel Insull and Harold McCormick, as well as aspects of the screenwriters' own lives.

After the Broadway success of Welles's Mercury Theatre and the controversial 1938 radio broadcast "The War of the Worlds" on The Mercury Theatre on the Air, Welles was courted by Hollywood. He signed a contract with RKO Pictures in 1939. Although it was unusual for an untried director, he was given freedom to develop his own story, to use his own cast and crew, and to have final cut privilege. Following two abortive attempts to get a project off the ground, he wrote the screenplay for Citizen Kane with Herman J. Mankiewicz. Principal photography took place in 1940, the same year its innovative trailer was shown, and the film was released in 1941.

Who's That Knocking at My Door, originally titled I Call First, is a 1967 American independent drama film written and directed by Martin Scorsese which stars Harvey Keitel and Zina Bethune. It was Scorsese's feature film directorial debut and Keitel's debut as an actor. The story follows Italian-American J.R. (Keitel) as he struggles to accept the secret revealed by his independent and free-spirited girlfriend (Bethune).

This film was a nominee at the 1967 Chicago Film Festival.

The Opposite Of Sex is a 1998 American independent romantic dark comedy film written and directed by Don Roos, in his directorial debut, starring Christina Ricci, Martin Donovan and Lisa Kudrow. It marked the final film produced by Rysher Entertainment. Shortly before the film’s world premiere at the 1998 Sundance Film Festival, it was acquired by Sony Pictures Classics.

Zhang Yimou (simplified Chinese: 张艺谋; traditional Chinese: 張藝謀; pinyin: Zhāng Yìmóu; born 14 November 1950) is a Chinese filmmaker. He made his directorial debut with Red Sorghum (1987), which won the Golden Bear at the Berlin International Film Festival. Since then, he has established himself as a leading figure of China's Fifth Generation directors and one of the most successful directors in the world. Zhang directed the opening and closing ceremonies of the 2008 Beijing Summer Olympic Games as well as the opening and closing ceremonies of the 2022 Beijing Winter Olympic Games. Since 2004, Zhang has collaborated with local governments across China to promote tourism through the “Impression” series of outdoor live stage productions, beginning with Impression Liu Sanjie in Yangshuo. Despite his frequent official affiliations, Zhang has, at various points in his career, fallen foul of Chinese censors.

One of Zhang’s early recurring themes is the resilience of ordinary people, as in To Live (1994) and Not One Less (1999). Beginning with Hero (2002), which ushered the Chinese film industry into the era of big-budget blockbusters, his work increasingly reflected an interest in grand narratives and critical engagement with politics and history, as in Curse of the Golden Flower (2006), One Second (2020) and Under the Light (2023). His films are also noted for their rich use of colour, as in Raise the Red Lantern (1991) and House of Flying Daggers (2004), and for their portrayals of women that propelled “Mou Girls” to stardom, such as Gong Li, Zhang Ziyi and Ni Ni. His highest-budgeted film to date is the all-star The Great Wall (2016), which became his greatest bomb. His highest-grossing film to date is Full River Red (2023), which became the seventh highest-grossing film of all time in China. Zhang was awarded an honorary doctorate from Yale University in 2010 and from Boston University in 2018. In 2022, he joined the Beijing Film Academy as a distinguished professor.