Peter Baranowski was born in Frankfurt/Main on 6th of January 1979. He first studied physics, Arab studies and literature in Heidelberg, Berlin and Oxford. During that time, he shot a 45-minutes-long reportage commissioned by an Arab TV broadcaster ("Arab world through European Eyes", 2006). In late 2006, he started studying directing at the Hochschule für Fernsehen und Film (HFF) in Munich. Three years later, Baranowski, still a student, co-founded the production company 'Passanten' together with his fellow student Michael Krummenacher. For his short film "Rauschgift" (2011), he was awarded the newcomer award Pardino d'Oro at the Locarno Film Festival. As co-owner of the production company 'Passanten', he was involved in a couple of Michael Krummenacher's films, among them the coming-of-age feature "Hinter diesen Bergen" (2010) and Krummenacher's graduation film "Sybille" (2015).

Peter Baranowski's own graduation film was screened at the Munich IFF: In "Die Temperatur des Willens" ("The Temperature of Will") he portrayed the Catholic order "Legion of Christ", in which his brother Martin is a priest. In June 2018, the film was released in German cinemas.