Ahmad Sharif, also known as Taha Karimi, was born in 1975 in Boyani village of Bana city of East Kurdistan. His mother's name is Adel Fatahi, also known as Aile.
He was initially educated in religion, then went to Bana with his grandparents and uncle Dr. Rauf Karimi, where he completed his primary, secondary and high school education. He was fond of reading from the beginning. With the help of his parents and under the guidance of his uncle, he began to read literary, intellectual and historical works and learned Kurdish. He also liked the books of poets: Hemn, Hazhar, Qane and Khayam.
In 1989, he participated in the opening of the first literary council of Bana. In Bana, he became friends with writers and activists such as Ata Nahai and Karim Dafi.
This mixture with the literary world and the complexity of social life, led Taha to start writing and first began with the story (Dance of the Angel of Truth) as his first work published in (1996) Sarwa magazine.
In 1994, he was admitted to the Department of Nursing-Surgical Technician of Gaylan Medical University in Rasht and graduated two years later.
In 1997, he participated in a one-year training course (Young Cinema Council) in Kermanshah. In 1997, he wrote his first screenplay, Galawezh, which won the third prize at the Rusta Film Festival in Iran.
In 1998, he wrote his second screenplay, Again Tomorrow, which was accepted at the Tehran Youth Film Festival and published. These were the beginnings of his first short film, You and Me, which was produced before going to university.
In 1999, he worked in a hospital in Bana for six months. When his job opportunity was not renewed, he tried to study again during 2000 – 2004 at Tehran University of Arts-College of Cinema and Theater, with the film White Desert, obtained a bachelor's degree with twenty out of twenty.
During his university studies, he produced four short films (Land of Roses, Dance of Pearls, Border of Life and Storm).
In 2006, Taha came to the Kurdistan Region and established the cinema department in the Youth Center in Sulaimani with the assistance of the Kurdistan Save Childern Organization. Later he published a column under the same name in Kurdistan New Newspaper.
In 2008, he married Evin Sharifi and settled in Sulaimani. Between 2006 and 2013, he has completed a number of artistic works (drama and documentary), all of which show the realities of life and social history of the people of Kurdistan and the region in different ways. Some of them have won several awards in Kurdistan and abroad, and most of his works have received special places in festivals and artistic and cultural activities.
He returned home on his last evening working on the documentary film “Our Manuscripts” and died in a traffic accident on Ibrahim Pasha Street in Sulaimani at 8 pm on Wednesday (May 29, 2013).
His body was returned from Sulaimani to his hometown with the participation of friends and lovers of Taha and those who care about art. At the same time, his family in Bana and friends in Sulaimani held a funeral for him.[1]