Cate Shortland is an Australian writer and director of film and television.
She was born 10 August 1968 in Temora, New South Wales. She graduated from the Australian Film, Television and Radio School, where she received the Southern Star Award for most promising student.
She has created several award winning short films: Strap on Olympia (1995); Pentuphouse (1998); Flower Girl (2000); and Joy (2000)
Cate spent three years directing episodes of the Network Ten television series, The Secret Life of Us.
In 2004 she released her debut feature length film, Somersault (2004), which was entered in the Un Certain Regard section at the 2004 Cannes Film Festival.
Her second feature, Lore, had its Australian premiere at the 2012 Sydney Film Festival. It won at the Locarno International Film Festival in August 2012 the Prix du Public UBS. The film has been selected as the Australian entry for the Best Foreign Language Oscar at the 85th Academy Awards.
She converted to Judaism faith and is married to filmmaker Tony Kravitz.