Straub, who was born in Metz, met Paris-born Huillet as a student in 1954. Straub was involved in the Parisian cinephile community at the time. He was friends with Francois Truffaut and contributed to his publication "Cahiers du Cinéma", although Truffaut refused to publish Straub's more inflammatory writings. He worked as an assistant to the film director Jacques Rivette on the 1956 film "A Fool's Mate". He also worked in Paris as an assistant to Abel Gance, Jean Renoir, Robert Bresson and Alexandre Astruc. The pair later emigrated to Germany so that Straub could avoid military service in Algeria. Straub spent his first few years researching Bach. Huillet had initially planned to make ethnographic films but eventually assisted Straub on his projects. In 1963, they made "Machorka-Muff", an 18-minute short based on a Heinrich Böll story and their first collaboration. Their next film, the 55-minute "Not Reconciled", was also a Böll adaptation.