Irina is an emerging screenwriter and director with international credits in several short films, both live action and animation.

After studying fine art in Russia, Irina came to Australia to pursue her ideas through storytelling and animation. She has written and directed two inventive award-winning animated short films Cog and Insatiable, both of which have screened at numerous film festivals, including MIFF, Annecy and Hiroshima.

After working for a Melbourne production house Animagrafx as an animator on numerous TV commercials, Irina completed a Film Victoria funded director’s attachment on the TV-series MDA and branched out into directing live action. She has written and directed two live action short films One Lonely Lost Umbrella and an AFC funded Piranha. Both went on to screen at national and international film festivals including Montreal, Palm Springs and Hawaii.

Irina has just finished a new short film Fatso which has been selected to premiere at MIFF. She also has a feature film Dog Club in development. Both are produced by Melanie Brunt. Dog Club is an amalgamation of all her previous skills – a live action film with the distinctive playfulness typical of animation. In 2009 it was nominated for the prestigious Australian Writer's Guild AWGIE Award for the best unproduced feature film script.

Irina has just been nominated for a second AWGIE award for her short film script Stop 39.