After living in Africa, he travelled with parents to Indonesia and Iraq. He moved back to Holland only in 1983. He graduated from the Dutch Film and Television Academy in 2001. He won the NPS Short! Prize for KOEN! in 2004. Burger directed his first feature, Panman, Rhythm of the Palms, in 2007. His film Hunting and Sons was nominated for two Golden Calfs (the Dutch national film awards) in 2010. Alice Cares is his first feature-length documentary.