Alaa Eddine Alijem trained at the Ecole Supérieure des Arts Visuels in Marrakech and the Institut Supérieur des Arts in Brussels and made several short films: in 2015 The Desert Fish was selected in many film festivals and won the Grand Prize of the Jury, the Critics' Prize and the Best Screenplay Award at the Marrakech International Film Festival. The Unknown Saint is his first feature film: as a project in development he participated in 2015 in the Open Doors Lab of the Locarno Film Festival, where he won the ICAM (Investing in Culture & Art in the South Mediterranean) award. Nel 2016, Alijem takes part in La Fabrique des Cinémas du Monde di Cannes e al Sundance Screenwriters' Lab. In the same year, he is listed by 'Screen International' magazine as one of the five Arab stars of the future.