[1][2][3][4][5][6] He is a survivor of the November 2015 attacks on the Bataclan in Paris, which inspired his first feature film, Zanka Contact.
He moved to France in 2001, where he studied philosophy and film theory before entering the directing section of La Fémis in 2004.
His experience of PTSD was channeled into his feature film Zanka Contact (a.k.a Burning Casablanca).
El Iraki kept many of the cast and crew from his shorts (including actors Said Bey and Mourad Zaoui) on his first feature Zanka Contact, also known under the French release title Burning Casablanca.
Zanka Contact was theatrically released in France on November 3, 2021, under the changed title Burning Casablanca.