Biography
Zakaria Rahmani was born in 1991 in Wuppertal. From 2011 to 2015, he earned a Bachelor's degree in Social Sciences and Media Studies at Ruhr University Bochum, followed by a Master of Arts in Globalization, Transnationalization, and Governance, which he completed in 2017. During this period, he also studied Political Science in Cologne in 2015/2016 and worked as a freelance associate at the Cologne-based Tag/Traum Filmproduktion. Additionally, he served as a research associate at the Duisburg Institute for Language and Social Research until 2020.
After completing his Master's degree, Rahmani began studying Creative Producing at the International Film School Cologne (ifs) in 2017. During his time there, he produced several award-winning short films by fellow students. In 2020, he co-produced the acclaimed four-part podcast "Brexitannia – Großbritanniens Weg aus der EU" (Britain's Path Out of the EU) with Robert Tonks for the regional broadcasting company WDR, which was later adapted into a bilingual schoolbook.
Before graduating from ifs in 2021, Rahmani joined Arne Birkenstock's production company, Fruitmarket Arts & Media GmbH, as a producer. In 2022, he collaborated with Birkenstock and Daniel Gordon on the documentary "Stasi FC." The film investigates how the East German secret police (Stasi) attempted to control soccer in the 1970s, a time when the sport was one of the last spaces for free expression in the GDR. The German-British co-production premiered on the British pay-TV channel Sky at the end of 2023. It was theatrically released in Germany in March 2025.
"Stasi FC" marked the final release of Fruitmarket Arts & Media GmbH. In early 2025, Zakaria Rahmani returned to his alma mater as Head of Creative Producing at the International Film School Cologne.