Mohamed Ben Attia was born in Tunisia in 1976, graduating from the Institut de Hautes Etudes Commerciales in 1998 before studying Audiovisual Communication at the University of Valenciennes in France. 
He kicked off his filmmaking career with five shorts — ROMANTISME, DEUX COMPRIMES, MATIN ET SOIR; KIF LOKHRIN, which won the Silver Award at the FESPACO in 2006; MOUJA; LOI 76; and SELMA, which competed in the Official Competition of the Clermont-Ferrand Festival and won several awards in various other festivals. 
He then released his debut feature HEDI in 2016. The film was a major success, winning the Best First Film Award and the Silver Bear for Best Actor at the 2016 Berlinale and receiving wide acclaim from both critics and audiences around the world. He found similar success in his second feature film, DEAR SON, which went on to screen as part of the Director’s Fortnight in Cannes in 2018.