Aliaksei Paluyan was born 1989 in Belarus. In 2012 he moved to Germany and studied film and television directing at the Kunsthochschule Kassel (Academy for the arts). He has become known to audiences as a director of fiction short films and documentaries that have been presented at festivals worldwide. With his unique artistic signature, Aliaksei Paluyan has achieved to transform highly personal storys from his homeland into themes of universal meaning and relevance. In 2019, his short fiction drama LAKE OF HAPPINESS, a german-belarusian-spainish co-production, premiered in Clermont-Ferrand, won a numerous awards at international festivals, was a candidate for European Short Film at the 33rd European Film Awards in 2020 and also longlisted for the Oscars 2021. COURAGE is his documentary film debut.