In 1979 Burhan Qurbani’s parents fled to Germany as political refugees. He was born in 1980 and grew up in various German cities, due to his father’s work for the US army. After his high school graduation in 2000 he gained experience at theatres in Stuttgart and Hannover. From 2002 he studied Directing at the Filmakademie Baden-Württemberg. His student short films won prizes at many international film festivals. In 2010 his graduation film Shahada screened in competition at Berlinale and was critically acclaimed and awarded at many festivals around the world. With the short documentary Krieger ohne Feind Burhan participated in the documentary project 20x Brandenburg, which won the prestigious Grimme Award in 2011. Qurbani’s second fiction feature We are young. We are strong. (2014) opened the competition at Rome IFF and Hof IFF and received multiple awards worldwide.
