Ismael Ferroukhi was born in Kenitra, Morocco. After directing his first short film, L'Exposé, which premiered at Cannes in 1993, Ferroukhi co-wrote the script for Cédric Kahn's feature film Trop de Bonheur (1994). In 1995, Ferroukhi wrote and directed the short film L'Inconnu, and went on to direct two films for television––Akim (1997) and Petit Ben (1998). Le Grand Voyage (2004) is his first feature-length film.