Born in St. Petersburg, Russia, Irina came to the U.S. in 1991. After receiving her two graduate degrees (MA in Linguistics and MFA in Film Production) from the University of Iowa in 1999, she moved to New York with her son, Gleb. Irina wrote or adapted and directed/produced 10 short films and videos that have played at festivals around the world. She teaches film production at the department of Television and Radio at Brooklyn College of the City University of New York.

“In my short fiction films I am trying to experiment with depicting acting, foregrounding physicality and behavior, and using language more like a costume or a smoke machine, a tool to create ambience. I want to capture the vagaries of life, life’s “how,” rather than “who, what, why.”  “Record” comes from Latin “re” - again and “cord” - heart… learn by heart, recite by heart, know without thinking...

As for my documentaries, I usually look for stories in other countries: Armenia, France, Egypt, China… I love traveling and believe it allows us to degauss our senses, our beliefs and ideas... so that we can see new connections, new ways, new possibilities… I am looking for people and places, situations and stories that are simultaneously beautiful and ugly, awkward and perfect, funny and sad, right and wrong...”