Damir Lukacevic was born in Zagreb and attended school in Stuttgart, Germany. From 1993 to 1999 he studied at the Deutsche Film und Fernsehakademie (German Film Academy) in Berlin, specializing in directing, screenwriting, and script development. His breakout work was the short film FREMDE HEIMAT for which he received the Gold Medal at the German Short Film Awards. His feature debut movie GOING HOME, about a Croatian family, received the Verdi-award for Best Director and the Geneva-Europe Screenplay Award.