After her pre-film-life as a sign painter, a Flight Attendant and a Graphic Designer, Panian worked as a TV-Editor for Endemol Germany and a freelance-editor and director for the Swiss Television. In 2010 she finished her Bachelor of Arts in journalism. In 2012 she did her Master’s in directing fiction at the ZHdK in Switzerland. Her first feature length documentary ZU ENDE LEBEN – DYING TO LIVE – won the Audience Award at the Zurich Film Festival 2014 and had its theatrical release in Switzerland in April 2015. Aside to the film the Wörterseh Verlag has published the book ZU ENDE DENKEN.
Since 2016 Panian is an activist for the idea of unconditional basic income (UBI), after Switzerland could vote for it.
In 2018 she started the project „Dorf testet Zukunft“ / „Village tests Future“. She wanted to test the basic income idea in a Swiss village. Among other projects she is currently working on the documentary IMAGINE, a film that questions our reality and inspires to imagine a new one: a reality where it’s normal that caring for all earthlings and our planet is at the heart of everything and all people have enough to live on – a basic income as a human right.
Her journey with the Swiss village will be part of IMAGINE.
She is currently developing the chamber play LOTTERY aka 12 ANGRY WOMEN (as a script and an interactive play) – a dystopian satire asking: “If you had to solve the problem of overpopulation, what would you do?”
Aside from that she will launch the talk-show VOLL AUF DIE 12 in October 2023. More info is coming soon.