Biography
Behrooz Karamizade was born in 1978 in Ahwaz, Iran and grew up in Germany since 1985. After graduating from high school, he worked for almost three years, from March 1999 to November 2001, as an assistant to the Cologne-based photographer Gerhard Kley. After that, in 2002, he gained further experience as a camera assistant in advertising and TV productions. After studying philosophy in Cologne and spending time abroad in Iran and China, Karamizade began studying visual communication with a focus on film and television at the Kunsthochschule Kassel in 2007.
During his time there, he produced the eleven-minute documentary "Being a Child in Iran" (2008), which was broadcast on HR television in June 2008 and screened at several international festivals, including the Duisburg Film Week and the Girona Film Festival in Spain. His student short films "Murche" (2007) and "Packen" (2008) were also invited to international festivals.
In 2013 Behrooz Karamizade finished his studies. His 16-minute graduation film "Bahar in Wonderland", about a Syrian refugee girl in Germany, was screened at over 150 festivals worldwide and won numerous awards, including the German Human Rights Film Award.
While pursuing his Ph.D. at the Kunsthochschule Kassel (2015-2018), Karamizade also worked as a lecturer in the film and television department. In addition to his professors Yana Drouz and David Safarian at the Kunsthochschule, Karamizade cited the work of cinematographer Thomas Mauch as an influence. In addition to his role as a director, Behrooz Karamizade worked as a cinematographer and editor for short films and documentaries by other directors, including the award-winning short film "Sea of Joy" (DE/ES 2018).
Behrooz Karamizade made his feature film debut with the Iranian film "Empty Nets" (2023), for which he won the German Screenplay Award in 2021. The film received the Special Jury Prize at the Karlovy Vary Film Festival and was awarded the New German Cinema Prize for Best Production at the Munich Film Festival. The film was theatrically released in January 2024.