胡安·巴勃罗·冈萨雷斯，Raised in Guadalajara, González majored in communications in college. His film training started when he worked at Mandaraka, a stop-motion animation company run by revered Mexican animator Rene Castillo. For a few years, he moved into advertising, an experience he cites as a formative substitute for the film school training he never had: “Those were the projects that started teaching me how to move the camera, how to frame, a lot of things about editing, about working with crew.” In 2012, he decided to pursue his interest in film and came to Austin to enroll in University of Texas’s master of fine arts film program. He credits the school’s equal emphasis on narrative and documentary training for sparking his interest in nonfiction work.