Irina Patkanian
Professor
Television, Radio and Emerging Media
Location: 405 Whitehead Hall
Phone: 718.951.5000 x2790
Fax: 718.951.4418
Email:
Born in St. Petersburg, Russia, Irina is an award-winning filmmaker, a Fulbright scholar, and the president of IN PARENTHESIS - a nonprofit film, theater and media arts company supporting immigrant artists since 1995. Irina was awarded an American Association of University Women Fellowship to pursue the MFA degree in Film Production. Irina's films have screened at more than 140 film festivals, incl. DOC NYC, Ann Arbor, STARZ Denver, Palm Springs, UNAFF, Hot Springs and many others. Her stop motion animated documentary LITTLE FIEL screened widely, winning 21 awards incl. both Grand Jury Prize and Best Short Doc at Boulder International Film Festival. Her work has been supported by fellowships and grants from NYSCA, NYFA, Tow, Blaustein, Troy and Jerome Foundations and artist residencies at MacDowell, Obermann Center for Humanities, Ucross Foundation and the Millay Colony. Irina is currently working on the documentary film opera IPHIGENIA, THE STORY OF THE FIRST REFUGEE.
Education:
M.F.A., University of Iowa - 1999 (Film and Video Production)
M.A., University of Iowa - 1995 (Linguistics)
B.A. in Philology of Germanic Languages, State University of St. Petersburg, Russia - 1991 (English Language and Literature)
Areas of Expertise:
Irina makes hybrid fiction/nonfiction films questioning history with poetry, film with theater, b-roll with animation.
Creative Work
"Iphigenia Point Blank: Story of the First Refugee" is fusing together documentary film, live music, theatre and dance. Lyrics by by Lisa Schlesinger; Music by Kinan Azmeh (Syria/USA); Film by Irina Patkanian (Russia/USA); Directed by Marion Schoevaert (France/USA), Produced by Nilou Safinya (Iran/USA), Starring as Iphigenia Layale Chaker (Lebanon/France). Showcase premiered on November 1 at Thayer Theater in partnership with UI Theater Department, Hancher Auditorium's Embracing Complexity program, the Center for Human Rights, and the Obermann Center for Advanced Studies. 2018
"Little Fiel" - a stop motion animation/documentary was officially selected to screen at 2017 DOC NYC film festival (11.2017), 2018 Black Maria Film Festival (New Jersey) ; Africa Word Documentary Film Festival (St. Louis, Barbados and South Africa), Vancouver International Women in Film Festival; DC Independent Film Festival (BEST INTERNATIONAL FILM AWARD) Washington, D.C.; 2018 Ann Arbor Film Festival, Ann Arbor, MI; Florida Film Festival, Maitland, FL; Rincón International Film Festival, Rincón Puerto Rico; Kansas City Film Fest, DocLands Film Festival San Francisco CA, Montclair Film Festival, Montclair, NJ.; The African Film Festival, Dallas, TX (BEST SCREENPLAY AWARD); Indy Film Festival, Indianapolis, IN; Harlem International Film Festival, New York, NY; Bucharest ShortCut Cinefest, Bucharest, Romania (BEST ANIMATION AWARD; BEST SHORT DOC AWARD); Miami Independent Film Festival, Miami, FL;
Manifesto Film Festival, Amsterdam, Netherlands; 2018
"Little Fiel" - a stop motion animation/documentary was officially selected to screen at Santorini Film Festival, Santorini, Greece (winning BEST SHORT DOC AWARD); Siciliambiente Doc.Film Festival, Sicily, Italy; FRAPA, Porto Alegre, Brazil; Woods Hole Film Festival (AWARD FINALIST), Woods Hole, MS; Int. Doc. Festival Ierapetra, Greece (BEST SHORT DOC - 2nd PRIZE); Global Impact Film Festival, Washington D.C. (AWARD FINALIST); DocuWest Film Festival, Denver CO; BlackStar International Film Festival, Ghana (BEST SHORT FILM AWARD); InstiDoc Film Festival, Maputo, Mozambique; UN Association Film Festival, Stanford, CA; Global Peace Film Festival; Port Townsend Film Festival, OR; Connecticut Film Festival; Sioux City Int. Film Festival; DC Shorts Film Festival, Buffalo Niagara Int. Film Festival, Charlotte Film Festival; Tallgrass Int. Film Festival, Dallas VideoFest, Bend Film, Hot Springs Doc. Film Festival
2018
"Little Fiel" was officially selected to play at Palm Springs International ShortFest, Palm Springs, CA; Smita Patil Doc. and Short Film Festival in Pune, India; 16th annual Oxford Film Festival in Oxford, MS; Roma Cinema DOC in Rome, Italy; Festival Brasil De Cinema Internacional in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil; Int. Short Film Festival of Beveren in Belgium (BEST SHORT DOC AWARD); Black Maria Film Festival (tour) in Morris Museum, Morristown, NJ; Int. Women Film Festival KIN in Yerevan, Armenia (BEST SHORT DOC AWARD); SNOB Film Festival in Concord, NH; Coronado Island Film Festival in Coronado Island, CA; 21st Arpa Int. Film Festival in LA, CA (nominated for BEST SHORT DOC AWARD); DOC LA Film Festival in Raleigh Studios Hollywood, CA (BEST ANIMATED DOC AWARD); Tampa Animation Festival in Tampa, FL; 2018
"Socrates of Kamchatka" was officially selected to have its world premiere at 55th Ann Arbor Film Festival. 2017
Documentary poems "Children in Gold," "Sisters" and "The Waterline" were officially selected to play on Iowa PBS, as well as at 2016 Social Justice Film Festival (Seattle, WA), 2017 Peace on Earth Film Festival BEST SHORT DOCUMENTARY AWARD (Chicago, IL); 2017 Socially Relevant Film Festival (New York, NY); 2017 Global Impact Film Festival (Washington D.C.) (nominated for BEST SHORT DOCUMENTARY AWARD); 2017 DocuWest Film Festival (Denver, CO), 2017 Fargo Film Festival (Fargo, ND), at the XXV Visible Evidence International Documentary Conference (Indianapolis, IN) and 2018 Pomegranate Film Festival in Toronto, Canada. 2017
Armed Defense, a short film based on a story by Dmitry Bakin that I adapted / directed / produced, was officially selected to play at Big Muddy Film Festival, Carbondale, Ill.; Athens International Film Festival, Ohio; M.A.L.I. Women's Film & Performance Arts Festival, Austin, Texas; Connecticut International Film Festival, Danbury, Conn.; 32nd Starz Denver Film Festival. 2013: UFVA (best short fiction film award), Big Apple Film Festival, New York; S.N.O.B. Film Festival, Concord, N.H.; Art of Brooklyn Film Festival, Brooklyn, N.Y.; Massachusetts Independent Film Festival, Cambridge, Mass. 2013
Travelled to the Republic to Georgia to create video installation for the multimedia concert "Sacred Songs of Sakartvelo," commissioned by Texas State University. 2011
Directed/produced multi-camera productions of the spring season of "Very Young People's Concerts," commissioned by the New York Philharmonic. 2010
My American Neighbor, a 30-minute documentary about perception of the U.S. and American dream abroad, premiered at the Independent Television Festival in Los Angeles in July 2007 and was officially selected to play at the following festivals: International Social Uprising, Resistance and Grassroots Encouragement Film Festival, Portland, OR; Hot Springs Documentary Film Festival, Arkansas; Big Damn Film Festival, Chicago; San Francisco Indie Film Festival; Big Muddy Film Festival, Carbondale, Ill.; Indianapolis International Film Festival; Seattle True Independent Film Festival; Connecticut Film Festival; BridgeFest, Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada, and Belgrade, Serbia; Philadelphia Independent Film Festival; 62nd University Film & Video Association Conference, Colorado; Golden Apricot, International Armenian Film Festival, Yerevan, Armenia; and Peace on Earth Film Festival, Chicago (best short documentary award). Distributed by Films for the Humanities & Sciences. 2008
Second Egyptian, a short digital film, based on a story by Marina Palei that I adapted/directed/produced premiered at the 2007 San Diego Women Film Festival, where it received "Best Narrative" jury award and subsequently was officially selected to play at the following festivals: Arpa International Film Festival, Los Angeles; Women's International Film Festival, Florida; Newfilmmakers NY, a screening series at Anthology Film Archives, New York; 62nd University Film & Video Association Conference, (award finalist) juried faculty screening, Colorado. 2008
Armenian Lullaby is selected for online exhibition, Imaging Ourselves, by International Museum of Women in Los Angeles. It was awarded the 2007 Best of Middle East Award by the International Museum of Women. 2007
Armenian Lullaby, a five-minute video poem, premiered at the United Nations Association Film Festival at Stanford University and subsequently played at: Golden Lion Film Festival, South Africa; UNAFF Traveling Film Festival, Waukesha, Wis.; UNAFF Traveling Film Festival, Berkeley, Calif.; 7 Islands International Film Festival, Mumbai, India; UNAFF Traveling Film Festival, New York; Globians Doc. Film Fest, Potsdam, Germany; Silver Lake Short Film Festival, Los Angeles; Amnesty International Film Festival, St. John's, Newfoundland, Canada; Armenian Film Festival, San Francisco; Global Voices Documentary Film Festival, Boston; Human Rights Film Festival, Monterey, Calif.; United Nations Association FF Stanford University, Calif. 2006
Screening and discussion of My American Neighbor at New Pioneer Theater, New York, as part of Visions, Voices, Videos: Documentary Films by Women Filmmakers--Annette Danto, Irene Sosa and Irina Patkanian. 2006
Awards, Honors and Fellowships
The Millay Colony artist residency to write/edit immersive documentary feature SOMOS CUBA that follows five characters in Havana over 5+ years to record the effect of the regime change on their lives. (Awards and Honors) 2020
"Little Fiel" has played at more than 80 film festivals and won 21 awards most recently both Best Short Documentary and Grand Jury Prize for the Best Short Film at 2019 Boulder International Film Festival and top prize - John Michael Award at the 2019 Big Muddy Film Festival. (Awards and Honors) 2019
Awarded Leonard and Claire Tow Faculty Travel grant to travel to Havana, Cuba to continue filming SOMOS CUBA, an observational documentary feature about regime change and its affect on five characters and their families. (Grants and Fellowships) 2019
Awarded NYSCA grant (Individual Artists/Film) to write/direct a short fiction narrative Yellow Blue Bus about a Russian immigrant's journey through New York City Purgatorio. (Grants and Fellowships) 2019
Together with Nilou Safynia and Marion Schoevaert awarded 2019 "Made in NY" Women's Film, Television and Theater Fund Grant ($37,000) for production of documentary film opera IPHIGENIA, THE STORY OF THE FIRST REFUGEE. (Grants and Fellowships) 2019
Awarded a PSC CUNY Research Grant (B) to continue working on "Somos Cuba" an immersive documentary feature. (Grants and Fellowships) 2018
"Iphigenia in Lesvos" documentary film opera, a multiyear collaboration with Lisa Schlessinger (playwright), Kinan Azmeh (composer) and Marion Schoevaert (theater director) was awarded Awarded Obermann Interdisciplinary fellowship and Arts and Humanities Initiative Major Grant from the University of Iowa Office for Research and Development to support a Partnership in the Arts developmental production of the film opera at the University of Iowa Theatre Arts Department in partnership with Hancher Auditorium's Embracing Complexity program, the Center for Human Rights, the Obermann Center forAdvanced Studies, the Film department and the School of Music. (Grants and Fellowships) 2017
Awarded Leonard and Claire Tow Faculty Travel grant to travel to Cuba to continue working on immersive documentary "Somos Cuba." (Grants and Fellowships) 2017
Awarded PSC-CUNY grant (B) to travel to Greece to continue shooting for film opera "Iphigenia: Story of a Refugee." (Grants and Fellowships) 2017
MacDowell Artists' Colony residency, to finish post-production of Little Fiel, a short stop motion animation/documentary. January. (Awards and Honors) 2014
PSC-CUNY 44 Research Award (enhanced), to defer production costs for a documentary with animated sequences "Little Fiel." (Grants and Fellowships) 2013
Fulbright Fellowship, to spend Spring 2012 in Istanbul doing research for an experimental film about renowned Armenian-Turkish photographer Ara Güler. (Grants and Fellowships) 2011
Jerome Foundation grant, to write/direct/produce the documentary feature Living Here: A Kamchatka Tale," a story of one family in the end of Siberia told from a perspective of a horse. $25,000. (Grants and Fellowships) 2010
NYSCA grant (Individual Artist/Film), to write/direct/produce animated documentary about the Mozambican civil war. $29,000. (Grants and Fellowships) 2010
PSC-CUNY Research Foundation grant, to develop an animated documentary about the civil war in Mozambique. (Grants and Fellowships) 2010
Jacob and Hilda Blaustein Foundation grant, to help offset production expenses of a documentary feature, Living Here. Kamchatka Tale. $5,000. (Grants and Fellowships) 2009
Leonard & Claire Tow Faculty Travel Grant, to travel to Mozambique for research and production of an animated documentary about the Mozambican civil war. (Grants and Fellowships) 2009
PSC-CUNY Research Award, to begin production of a feature-length documentary, Living Here. Kamchatka Tale. $6,000. (Grants and Fellowships) 2009
Texas State University grant, to collaborate with Jonathan Babcock on Sacred Voice of Sacartvelo, a documentary film about folk songs of the Republic of Georgia. $8,000. (Grants and Fellowships) 2009
2007 NYSCA Grant (Individual Artists/Film & New Technologies), to direct/produce a short film, Armed Defense, based on a short story by an anti-Booker Prize-winning Russian writer Dmitry Bakin. (Grants and Fellowships) 2007
Brooklyn College Award for Excellence in Creative Achievement. (Awards and Honors) 2007
Leonard & Claire Tow Faculty Travel grant, to travel to France, Israel and Russia for research and development of a screenplay, Costs of Memory. Trial of Sholom Schwartzbard, based on the 1927 trial of Sholom Schwartzbard, who in summer 1924 assassinated the former president and the commander-in-chief of the Ukrainian Directory, Simon Petliura, whom he held responsible for the pogroms of Ukrainian Jews. (Grants and Fellowships) 2006
Leonard & Claire Tow Faculty Travel Grant, to travel to Russia, Italy, Egypt and Greece to shoot interviews with American citizens for My American Neighbor, a 30-minute documentary essay that invites the audience to reflect on the importance of distance in one's understanding of homeland. (Grants and Fellowships) 2004
Conferences, Seminars and Symposiums
"Long Take and Empathy" was selected to be presented at XXVIth Visible Evidence - the largest international documentary conference taking place at USC July 24-28. (Conferences, Seminars and Symposiums: Contributed Talk) 2019
My stop motion documentary "Little Fiel" was officially selected to be screened and discussed at the 23rd international documentary conference "Visible Evidence" in Bozeman MT. (Conferences, Seminars and Symposiums: Conference Presentation) 2016
Presented two of my films at 67th Annual University Film and Video Association Conference: a short film, Armed Defense, which received the Award of Merit in short fiction narrative category, and a documentary/fiction feature, Socrates of Kamchatka, which received Honorable Mention in feature nonfiction category in Faculty Juried Screening Competition. (Conferences, Seminars and Symposiums: Conference Presentation) 2013
"Seeing What You Mean...Designing Production Exercises Around Specific Concepts." Approaches to Teaching: Putting Theory Into Practice Workshop. Society for Cinema & Media Studies Conference. New Orleans. (Conferences, Seminars and Symposiums: Conference Presentation) 2011
LIving Here: A Kamchatka Tale selected to participate in the Documentary Pitch Forum at the Tromso International Film Festival, Tromso, Norway, organized by European Documentary Network. (Conferences, Seminars and Symposiums: Conference Presentation) 2010
"Acting Subtext in Kira Muratova's film 'Three Stories'" guest lecture. SUNY Purchase. (Conferences, Seminars and Symposiums: Invited Talk) 2007
"Acting Subtext in Kira Muratova's film 'Three Stories'" guest lecture. Yale University. New Haven, Conn. (Conferences, Seminars and Symposiums: Invited Talk) 2007
Conversations With Filmmakers panel, Focus on French Cinema Film Festival and Conference. Introduced and discussed films and participated in panel. SUNY Purchase. (Conferences, Seminars and Symposiums: Contributed Talk) 2006
"Shakespeare on Film & Television" digital essay. Symposium on Andre Bazin's Essay "Theater & Cinema." Yale University. New Haven, Conn. (Conferences, Seminars and Symposiums: Contributed Talk) 2005
Panel moderator, Translation Think Tank/Carte Blanche, an all-day symposium on translations and theater adaptation of modern French playwrights. With Tom Sellar, Marion Schoevaert, Leonora Champagne and Hillalry Gardner. Screened a short video about the festival, featuring clips from various productions. CUNY Graduate Center. (Conferences, Seminars and Symposiums: Contributed Talk) 2005
