Irene is a first generation Romanian-American who was born in England, raised in Boston and now lives in Santa Cruz, California.

Lusztig went on to complete her MFA in film and video at the Milton Avery Graduate School of the Arts at Bard College.

Lusztig's debut feature film Reconstruction, released in 2001, tells the story of her Romanian-Jewish maternal grandmother Monica Sevianu, who was sentenced to life in prison for taking part in the Ioanid Gang bank heist in 1959.

[16] Filmed between 2015 and 2017, Yours in Sisterhood uses "embodied listening" techniques to invite contemporary women across the United States to read and reflect on letters to the editor of Ms. written between 1972 and 1980.

[32] Apart from being a director, Lusztig has also acted as a producer in films like Contents Inventory(2021), Out of Sight(2015), Maternity Test(2014), Exit 426: Watsonville(2012), The Samantha Smith Project(2005) and Reconstruction(2002).