Robin Hessman
Introduction (2-3 lines)
Robin Hessman is an award-winning documentary filmmaker and producer with a special interest in international stories. She is Executive Producer on MR. NOBODY AGAINST PUTIN, which won the 2026 Academy Award (R) for Best Documentary Feature. Robin produced ARREST THE MIDWIFE (SXSW, POV/PBS 2026) and SIMPLE AS WATER (Tribeca, HBOMax) which was Oscar-shortlisted and nominated for Emmy, Peabody, and IDA Awards, earning a Producers Guild Award nomination. Robin directed and produced the Peabody-winning MY PERESTROIKA (Sundance, POV/PBS) which was a NY Times Critics' Pick released in over 30 countries. During her decade living in Russia she produced the Russian SESAME STREET and served as Director of Documentary Programming for AMFEST. A member of the documentary branch of the Academy of Motion Pictures Arts and Sciences, she also belongs to the Council on Foreign Relations, the Producers Guild of America, the Television Academy, and the Documentary Producers Alliance. She is Vice President and founding board member of the Karen Schmeer Film Editing Fellowship, and has been a Sundance Fellow, MacDowell Fellow, PBS Producers Academy Fellow, and Filmmaker-in-Residence at WGBH. Robin graduated with honors from Brown University in Film and Russian and earned her graduate degree in film directing from VGIK in Moscow, Russia.
Robin's career began over 25 years ago, when she received an Academy Award®– with co-director James Longley – for their student film, "Portrait of Boy with Dog." During her many years living in Russia in the 1990s, Robin worked for Sesame Workshop (then CTW) as the on-site producer of Ulitsa Sezam, the original Russian-language Sesame Street. In the US, Robin co-produced the film Tupperware! which received a Peabody Award. Robin also co-produced the PBS biography of Julia Child. She is a founding board member and Vice President of the Karen Schmeer Film Editing Felowship.
In addition to her film and TV work, Robin has appeared on the PBS NewsHour, written for The Financial Times and produced radio pieces on Russia for the BBC’s The World. She served as the Director of Documentary Programming for the American Film Festival of Moscow for 5 years. Robin has been a Sundance Institute Fellow, a MacDowell Colony Fellow, a Copeland Fellow at Amherst College, a PBS Producers Academy Fellow, and a Filmmaker in Residence at WGBH Boston. She is a member of the Documentary Branch of the Academy of Motion Pictures Arts and Sciences and of the Council on Foreign Relations.
Robin has a BA from Brown Film (MCM) and Russian and received her graduate degree in film directing from VGIK - the All-Russian State Institute of Cinematography in Moscow, Russia with a "Red Diploma" of honors. She frequently speaks at universities, colleges, and secondary schools on many topics including My Perestroika, Russian politics and history, the Cold War, Soviet cinema, documentary filmmaking, Sesame Street in Russia.
