Director
Robin Hessman is an American documentary filmmaker and producer known for her international, Russia-focused storytelling. She earned a dual degree in Russian and Film from Brown University and a graduate degree in film directing from the All-Russian State Institute of Cinematography (VGIK) in Moscow, graduating with a "red diploma" of honors. As a student, she won a Student Academy Award with co-director James Longley for the short film Portrait of Boy with Dog (1994). Hessman lived in Russia for eight years, working as the on-site producer for Ulitsa Sezam, the original Russian-language adaptation of Sesame Street, for the Children's Television Workshop. She went on to co-produce the Peabody Award-winning documentary Tupperware! (2005) and the PBS biography Julia! America's Favorite Chef. She is best known for directing and producing My Perestroika (2010), which premiered in the U.S. Documentary Competition at the Sundance Film Festival, aired on PBS's POV in 2011, won a Peabody Award, and was named a New York Times Critics' Pick. She later served as executive producer on Mr. Nobody Against Putin, winner of the 2026 Academy Award for Best Documentary Feature, and produced Arrest the Midwife (POV Season 39, 2026) with director Elaine Epstein. Hessman is a member of the Documentary Branch of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, the Council on Foreign Relations, the Producers Guild of America, the Television Academy, and the Documentary Producers Alliance.
