Leïla Kilani was born in Morocco and studied economics in Paris, taking a degree in history and civilization of the Mediterranean at the École des hautes études en sciences sociales. Since then, she has divided her time between Paris and Tangiers and made documentaries which have won various international prizes. On the Plank, her first fiction feature film was presented at the Quinzaine des Réalisateurs at Cannes in 2011 and was then selected by over 80 international festivals; her second feature film, Birdland (Indivision), had its world premiere at the Rotterdam Film Festival in 2023.