Andreas Max Ströhl was born in Munich, West Germany, in 1962. He received a Master of Arts degree in 1987 from the University of Munich in German Literature, American Studies, and Theater. Upon graduation, he worked as a journalist before accepting a post with the international cultural exchange association, the Goethe-Institut, by which he was stationed in (amongst other places) Atlanta, Georgia. From 2003 until 2011 he was the Director of the Munich Filmfest and International Film School Festival Munich while also earning his PhD in European Ethnology at Marburg University in 2009. Ströhl returned to the Goethe-Institut in 2011 as, successively, Director of the Department of Culture, Founding Director of the Cultural Symposium Weimar, Regional Director of North America and Director of the Goethe-Institut in Washington, DC. He was a co-founder in 1977 (at fifteen) of a rock 'n' roll band called Extreme Unction which still plays and performs today!