Biography
Iris Janssen was born on August 2, 1977, in Kevelaer, a town on Germany's Lower Rhine. From 1997 to 2000, she trained as a media designer specializing in digital and print media before working as a freelance graphic designer while gaining her first experience in filmmaking through a series of internships. In 2001, she enrolled at the Academy of Media Arts Cologne, joining its Film and Television program in 2003. She also studied at the Escuela Internacional de Cine y Televisión in Cuba during the 2004–2005 academic year. Her feature-length graduation film, "Die Dinge zwischen uns" ("The Things Between Us"), premiered in the Perspektive Deutsches Kino section of the Berlin International Film Festival in 2008.
Janssen subsequently worked as a freelance screenwriter, producer, and filmmaker, while also serving as an editor for a European media company. Together with Verena Kuri, she directed the documentary "Töchter Europas" (2026), a kaleidoscopic road movie following women traveling by long-distance coach across Europe. Through their journeys, the film explores a wide range of personal circumstances, motivations, and experiences, examining mobility and migration through the lens of everyday life.