Elina Panik was born in Athens, where she studied German literature and Filmmaking. In 2009 she moved to Berlin, where she continued her studies at the Filmakademie Kelle. She has worked as an art director and costume designer for film and television productions in Greece and Germany. In 2010 she participated at the Berlinale Talent Campus with her film «The Desperation of Mimi». Her fourth film «The mirror of Lord Patschog» won the Platinum Remi Award at Worldfest Houston, Texas, 2013 and the award for Direction of Photography at the Short Film Festival of Drama. That same year she won the Best LoFi Award at the Berlin Music Video Awards and the Siegessäule Magazine’s Best Queer Video Award for the music video «Terrorist». Her latest short film, a Greek-Lithuanian production, «Anna and Phaedra» premiered in September 2019 at the Drama International Short Film Festival.