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Burhan Qurbani, born in Erkelenz on 15 November 1980 as the son of Afghan emigrants, gained his first experience in the media sector after graduating from high school. He worked as an editorial assistant at the women's magazine "Elle" in Stuttgart, as an assistant director at the Stuttgart State Theatre and as a camera assistant at the Stuttgart film production company teamWerk.
From 2002 he studied directing at the Filmakademie Baden-Württemberg. His short film "Illusion" (2007), about a Berlin ticket inspector who loses her job, was awarded the German Camera Prize, the Hamburg Cultural Foundation Jury Prize at the Hamburg Short Film Festival and the German Film Critics' Short Film Prize at the Dresden Film Festival.
Qurbani's full-length graduation film "Shahada" celebrated its premiere in 2010 in the Berlinale competition. In three episodes it tells the drama of young Muslims in Berlin whose values and beliefs are shaken by external circumstances and personal feelings. At the Berlinale, "Shahada" was awarded the Guild Prize of the German Film Theatres. Further international festival prizes followed. In addition, the film received the Hessian Film Award 2010 for Best Feature Film, the Studio Hamburg Young Talent Award for Production and Screenplay as well as the Film Art Award at the Festival of German Film in Ludwigshafen. Also in 2010, Qurbani shot the segment "Krieger ohne Feind" for the documentary series "20x Brandenburg" (TV).
Burhan Qurbani's second long feature film "Wir sind jung. Wir sind stark." ("We Are Young. We Are Strong.", 2014) was the opening film of the Hofer Filmtage 2014, where it was awarded the Bild-Kunst Förderpreis for Best Costume Design and Best Production Design. The film had ist theatrical release in January 2015.
In May 2018, Burhan Qurbani began shooting his next film: a modern adaptation of Alfred Döblin's novel "Berlin Alexanderplatz" from 1929 - in Qurbani's version with a refugee in today's Berlin as the main character. The film celebrated its acclaimed premiere at the Berlinale 2020 and shortly afterwards received eleven nominations for the German Film Award, including Best Fiction Film, Best Director and Best Screenplay (Burhan Qurbani and Martin Behnke). In the end the film won five Lolas, as Best Film (Silver), for Best Male Supporting Role (Albrecht Schuch), Best Cinematography (Yoshi Heimrath), Best Original Score (Dascha Dauenhauer) and Best Production Design (Silke Buhr). The theatrical release was planned for April 2020, but due to the Corona pandemic it did not take place until August of that year.