During his law studies, Yanis Koussim decided to become a filmmaker. After his graduation and a brief stint with La Fémis, he directed Le plus beau de tous les tangos du monde (2003), Khti (2008), and Khouya (2010). Khouya earned accolades at Locarno and Amiens and Corte and was screened at the Clermont-Ferrand International Film Festival. Yanis also took part in the documentary project Un été à Alger, which premiered at Palais de Tokyo. As a screenwriter, he has written all his own films and contributed to the scripts of À mon âge je me cache encore pour fumer  (2016) by R. Obermayer and Algérie mon amour (2020) by L. Bouchouchi. Yanis divides his time between Algiers and Sétif, where he founded Plateau19, an Algerian collective for independent cinema workers aimed at enhancing the country's independent film scene.