Biografia
Dina Shturmanova was born and raised in Ukraine, where she earned her first degree in Law. In 2002, she immigrated to the United States and lived in New York for several years.
In 2007, she was admitted to VGIK (Gerasimov Institute of Cinematography) in Moscow, Russia, the oldest film school in the world, to study film and television directing.
During her second year, Dina began working in the Russian film industry, holding various roles from script supervisor and clapper-loader to 1st assistant director.
In 2012, Dina graduated with honors from VGIK’s prestigious directing master's program. Immediately after, her exceptional skills secured her a coveted position directing episodes of Russia’s most popular comedy TV shows.
She directed 60 consecutive episodes of the half-hour comedy series INTERNS, which aired for six years, spanning 14 seasons and 280 episodes.
Dina also directed 40 episodes of UNIVER, Russia’s second most popular TV series, a half-hour comedy about college students living in a Moscow dormitory.
Expanding beyond comedy, she directed 20 episodes of the mystical sci-fi series FORTUNETELLER, which remains popular among viewers.
In addition to television, Dina has directed two successful romantic-comedy feature films, BARTENDER and HEAT, as well as a popular web series, FRIENDMATES, where she served as director, writer, and showrunner.
She directed all 10 episodes of FRIENDMATES’ first season, which achieved over 60 million views and led to a competitive sale to European streaming and TV platforms.
The second season of FRIENDMATES was set to begin filming in early 2022; however, following Russia’s aggression against Ukraine, Dina left Russia and returned to the United States.
She currently lives in Los Angeles with her husband, filmmaker Egor Baranov, and their newborn son, continuing her career as a director and screenwriter.
