“Koubi” takes us into the heart of Belleville, a place where three generations of Jews and Arabs meet every day to play cards, joke with each other and share their experiences of life in an ancient shared language. It focuses on the language of their land and their memories: Judeo-Arabic. The documentary is filmed in Belleville, the 77th administrative quarter of Paris, and the city’s oriental quarter, backing onto the Père Lachaise cemetery. It is here that many of Daniel Pennac’s novels take place. Belleville has always been a neighbourhood of industrial workers and winemakers, a crossroads of diverse cultures and a centre of vitality, vibrancy and multiculturalism.

Clara Elalouf has written several sitcoms and a series shown on France 3 called “Future Immédiat”. She has been involved with the production of a great many televisions series and programmes. However, the greatest change in her artistic career came about after many years of experience in the television world, when she became first assistant to Daniel Karlin on the production of his documentary “Et si on parlait d’amour”. From then on, Clara started to work on writing and producing numerous documentaries, including the political film “Ouvéa” by Peter Kassovita, fictional documentaries and documentaries about animals. “Peau Neuve” (2008) was the first short film she produced; “Koubi” is the second.