Burhan Qurbani
Burhan Qurbani was born in 1980 in Germany after his parents moved there in 1979 as political refugees from Afghanistan. His father was a civilian employee in the U.S. Army and so Burhan grew up in different cities all over Germany. In 2002, he started studying film directing at the Filmakademie Baden-Württemberg. For his short films he received the Short Film Prize of German Film Critics, the German Camera Prize for best short and the “Black Pearl” for the best upcoming filmmaker at the Middle East International Film Festival in 2008. His graduation film, Shahada (2010), premiered in competition at the 60th Berlinale in 2010 and was critically acclaimed and awarded at many festivals around the world. His second feature, We are young. We are strong (2014) opened the competition at Rome IFF and Hof IFF and received multiple awards worldwide.