Iris Ponkina was born in Tatarstan to Lithuanian parents. During her childhood she attended schools in Cuba, Columbia and Lithuania. Majored in Social Geography in the Universities of Moscow (Russia) and Kaunas (Lithuania).She was trained in modern ballet in Cologne (Germany) and practiced in performing arts & theater and was a member of the pop-group “Desperados”. Worked as a scuba diving instructor in Cyprus and for some years in French Guadeloupe. She lived and worked in Utrecht (The Netherlands) where she attended European Studies. Settled in Greece from 2005 and turned to filmmaking and scriptwriting as an assistant editor and assistant of production.