Born in Munich, Maurus began his career as a photographer’s apprentice and DJ, and worked in almost every department on feature film and commercial sets before he started studying at Munich Film School, where he set off to write and direct festival awarded short films.

On an otherwise boring weekend, Maurus directed his first four spec commercials which got him shortlisted at the Cannes Young Director’s Award. This launched his career as a commercial director working on campaigns for global brands like Balenciaga, Coca Cola, Ikea, McDonald’s, Skoda and Vodafone, gathering numerous international awards (Cannes Lions and New York festival shortlist, ADC Germany, Epica, Cresta, Moebius, Die Klappe, Berlin Fashion Film Festival and more). Eventually, he also graduated film school.

His cinematic storytelling approach and his ability to elicit captivating acting performances create visually striking and emotionally engaging work.

Parallel to his commercial adventures, Maurus also works in long format, directing the feature "Wie Licht schmeckt", an adaptation of Friedrich Ani's coming of age novel, and prime-time buddy comedy "Einer für alle, alles im Eimer" for German TV station ZDF.

Maurus lives in Munich with his family.

This Half Thai, half South African Indian, Cape Town-based Director is quite the mixed bag. Aadil spent his childhood bouncing between Thailand, India and a troubled South Africa in the late 80s. He found escape in movies and comedy, and dreamed of one day being able to make films that people could escape to.

Unfortunately, it took him quite a while to get on that path. When he left school, he studied medical sciences at university like a good Asian kid but broke his parents’ hearts when he dropped on account of too much drinking and too little studying. Although, he did go on to get a degree in Psychology, only to break his parents’ hearts again, and enrol to do a post-grad in Copywriting and Advertising at the AAA School of Advertising in Johannesburg.

Aadil then spent 10 years working as a creative in top tier agencies like JWT, Y&R, and BBDO, where he racked up a number of local and international awards.

In 2016, just when he’d become a father and had mounting financial responsibilities, Aadil decided to leave his cushy, financially stable career to finally pursue his lifelong dream of directing. Thankfully, it worked out and he’s produced some amazing work, for some pretty amazing brands and musicians, a few shorts, and has won a couple of awards for a couple of them along the way.

His parents’ hearts are still broken.