Ladj Ly was born in 1978 in Mali. He began his career as an actor and member of Kourtrajmé, a collective created by directors Kim Chapiron and Romain Gavras. In 1997, he directed his short film Montfermeil Les Bosquets with the Kourtrajmé collective. He went on to work on 28 Millimeters (2004), 365 Days in Clichy-Montfermeil (2007), and 365 Days in Mali (2014). In 2017, he directed his short film Les Misérables (The Pitiful), which won the Canal+ Award at the 2018 Clermont-Ferrand Short Film Festival. Les Misérables is Ly’s first feature film, inspired by his original short. It was the joint winner of the Jury Prize at the 72nd Cannes Film Festival.