Rudi Gaul, born 1982 in Munich, studied theatre studies, German literature, and political science at Munich’s Maximilians-Universität from 2003 to 2009 with a scholarship by the German National Academic Foundation. In 2005, he started to direct theater plays on the free theatre scene. One year later, Gaul and a number of fellow filmmakers and theatre directors set up the film production company "Schattengewächs". With "Das Zimmer im Spiegel" ("The Room in the Mirror"), the self-taught director finished his first feature film as a director. The surreal drama premiered in the competition of the 2009 Film Festival "Max Ophuels Prize". In the fall of 2008, Rudi Gaul received a VGF scholarship of Bayerisches Filmzentrum München.

In 2010, Gaul accompanied song writers Konstantin Wecker and Hannes Wader on their tour to shoot the documentary feature "Wader Wecker Vater Land" ("Wader Wecker Father Land") which is not only a concert film but also traces the lives of the two political artists in Germany post 1968. The film went on to win the audience award at the Filmfest in Munich.

Gaul's next film "Das Hotelzimmer" ("The Hotel Room", 2014), an intimate psychological drama about an unsuccessful documentary filmmaker, premiered at the Filmfest Munich in 2014. His comedy film "Safari - Match me if you can" (2018) tells the story of a number of different people searching for a partner on a dating app. After its world premiere at the Filmfest Munich, the film was released in German cinemas in August 2018.