Kerim Kortel was born in Freiburg in 1985. As a college student in Düsseldorf (2007-2013), he majored in sociology, political science and media studies. From 2013 until 2014, he studied documentary film at the Filmarche in Berlin. As a student, he made several trailers, featurettes and music videos. Together with singer Elisabeth Jeglitzka, he formed the folk music duo "Open South" which released its debut album in 2015. During that time, Kortel also worked on his first feature-length documentary "Drei von Sinnen" (2014-2016), which follows three young men who decided to go on a trip while following the example of the three apes, which meant that they alternately didn't see, hear or speak anything.