Due in large part to the isolated and rural region in which Diego was born as well as his impeccable aging process, his birth date has been widely disputed in the film scholar sphere, but all agree he was born between 1901 and 1914 in Las Hurdes, Spain. Until the surrealist filmmaker Luis Buñuel arrived to make his famous parody of the newly formed documentary mode, Diego as well as the majority of hurdanos had never been exposed to cinema. He quickly became fascinated by the art form and kept accosting Buñuel until he gave in and reluctantly became his filmmaking mentor. To escape the less-than-desirable living conditions of the region as well as to develop his cinematography skills, Diego hitched a ride out of Las Hurdes with Buñuel's film crew to Paris, where he worked under Luis Buñuel